[Mailman-Developers] Author_is_list option in upcoming mailman 2.1.16

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Wed Sep 18 10:04:07 CEST 2013


Franck Martin writes:

 > I think, it is risky to code this encapsulation method directly and
 > now, it requires a branch some testing and then merging back into
 > the main branch.

First, the risk is zero, except to volunteers, as long as it's not
default.

Second, it's been tested for decades.  A MIME digest is nothing but
one or more encapsulated message/rfc822 parts.  In multipart/digest
form, it has an obvious defect of requiring an extra click for readers
using the MUAs I refuse to use (the MUAs I use can be taught to
explode digests automatically, or read them as mini-folders).  It
would be nice to find alternative ways to accomplish the same goals,
but this is already proof of concept.

Third, it has the advantage of preserving as much or as little of the
original message as the list would like without interfering with DKIM
validation of the encapsulation.

 > The author_is_list has had deployment and testing for over a year
 > in a DMARC environment. Limited testing I agree but nevertheless
 > proved

Limited testing is not "proof" that something works.  Limited testing
can only *prove* that something is *broken*.  More extensive testing
is still not *proof*, but it can give you confidence that it's not
*too* broken.

 > Here is a recent test, deployment and analysis:
 > http://sys4.de/en/blog/2013/08/11/mailman-dmarc-konform-betreiben/

I don't read German, but I don't see anything that looks like data,
nor is there room for "analysis."  Nor does the blog by Patrick
Koettner referenced therein.  (The Google translations confirm that.)
Please show us something that looks like data and analysis.
Specifically of interest:

    Number of lists, number of users on each list (min, mean, max
    would do), duration of operation in this mode, type of users (mail
    admins vs. general technical vs non-technical), the MUAs in use,
    any discussion from the users themselves.

 > I'd like to see somebody operating a mailing list with this
 > encapsulation method first, before merging.

Any list with MIME digests enabled and in use is a test of the basic
usability.  Do so on a site with DKIM-signing and you're done.  All my
proposal does is tune the encapsulation a bit.  It might or might not
work.




More information about the Mailman-Developers mailing list