t.p. wrote:
Miles
I do not think that the behaviour of mailing lists is well enough
defined and so the various authentication mechanisms have too much
variation to cope with and so do not.
I get mail from several IETF lists and
- may or may not get a [tag]
- may or may not have From: replaced by an IETF address
- may have From: replaced by a nickname and no IETF address
- usually get List: headers
and so on and so forth.
What I think is needed is a well-defined and short description of what a
well-behaved mailing list might do, and then DKIM and such, or perhaps
just a best practices thereof, could make mailing lists
authentication-friendly
Pretty much all the major mailing list packages perform the same set of
functions, and provide similar configuration options:
- you may or may not get a tag - but tagging is a well understood
function - that can be standardized
- there is a From: in all message - mailing list software performs a
small list of functions that overload the field - that suggests adding a
standard header or two to move those functions out of the From: field
We could all benefit from taking a list of common mailing list
functions, and advancing a standard for how to perform those functions -
that would allow for better interaction with lots of things - most
notably authentication mechanisms, and perhaps pave the way toward
improved clients.
Miles Fidelman
--
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.
In practice, there is. .... Yogi Berra