[PLUG] Re: Mailing list SPF issues

Randal L. Schwartz merlyn at stonehenge.com
Wed Mar 22 02:15:52 UTC 2006


>>>>> "Wil" == Wil Cooley <wcooley at nakedape.cc> writes:

>> Obviously the entire idea behind SPF is to work this way, so my
>> question is, why does mailman set the sender to the post submitter
>> when forwarding to each subscriber? It seems like a better way would
>> be to leave the sender as PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org and note the
>> originator of the message in reply-to or something. And since I doubt
>> anyone wants to change how it works, what's the best way to deal with
>> this issue on my end and anyone else who's using SPF?

Wil> But the sender /isn't/ the mailing list; the sender is... the sender.
Wil> The mailing list is just the forwarder.  Reply-to is something
Wil> altogether different.

This is "envelope from" we're talking about, not "header from".

If I send to PLUG at lists.pdxlinux.org, it should look like:

        From plug at lists.pdxlinux.org (date)
        From: merlyn at stonehenge.com
        To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
        Date: (original date)

etc etc

Or, in SMTP terms:

        MAIL FROM: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
        RCPT TO: (each user)
        DATA
        From: merlyn at stonehenge.com
        To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org

etc etc.

If the mailing list software at pdxlinux.org is not doing the right thing,
then it needs to be fixed *or* it needs to not publish hard-fail SPF records.

If the recipient is hard-failing based on "From:", shame on him.  SPF is only
supposed to check envelope-from, not header-from.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn at stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
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