[Mailman-Developers] New RFC on using DKIM with MLMs

[Mark Sapiro]

On 10/27/2011 7:29 AM, Ian Eiloart wrote:
> 
> On 26 Oct 2011, at 16:33, Patrick Ben Koetter wrote:
>>


[...]
> The message that I'm replying to carried this header:
> X-Beenthere: 	mailman-developers at python.org
> 
> I guess that should stay, then. Unless we find a different place to put it. Moving it to a different place probably would not cause problems, depending on how it's used. If the header means "don't relay the message to this address", then there would be problems. If it means "drop this message, if you are mailman-developers at python.org" then it can be moved. 


It means the latter - "drop this message, if you are
mailman-developers at python.org".


[...]
>>>> X-Mailman-Approved-At
>>
>> From Mailman/ListAdmin.py:
>>
>>            # Queue the file for delivery by qrunner.  Trying to deliver the
>>            # message directly here can lead to a huge delay in web
>>            # turnaround.  Log the moderation and add a header.
>>            msg['X-Mailman-Approved-At'] = email.Utils.formatdate(localtime=1
> 
> So, I guess that the web moderation works by adding this header, so that the message can be delivered when the queue runner sees it. It looks like useful trace information, so it should stay.


It has nothing to do with delivery. Approval for delivery is noted by
flags in the message's metadata. The X-Mailman-Approved-At: header is
added solely for documentation to explain delays to message recipients.


> This also looks like a candidate for, say, a List-Approved-Date header.


Yes.


[...]
>>>> X-Peer
>>
>> Is this still being used?
>>
>> Nothing in the changelog
>> Nothing in the mailman-2.1.14 sources.
> 
> I guess that should be deprecated, then! 


This header is used in MM 3.


>>>> X-MailFrom
>>
>> Is this still being used?
>>
>> Nothing in the changelog
>> Nothing in the mailman-2.1.14 sources.
> 
> I guess that should be deprecated, then! 


This header is used in MM 3.


>>>> X-RcptTo
>>
>> Is this still being used?
>>
>> Nothing in the changelog
>> Nothing in the mailman-2.1.14 sources.
> 
> I guess that should be deprecated, then! 


It is only in the headers of of some test bounce messages. It is not in
the code. It is a header added to the headers of a bounce notification
(DSN) from (I'll refrain from giving my opinion) the Windows MTA
SMTPD32. You'd have to ask ipswitch if you want to know what it means,
but it appears to duplicate the To: header.


[...]
>>>> X-Topics
>>
>> Nothing in the changelog
>>
>> From Mailman/Handlers/Tagger.py:
>>
>>    # For each regular expression in the topics list, see if any of the lines
>>    # of interest from the message match the regexp.  If so, the message gets
>>    # added to the specific topics bucket.
> 
> So, is this used by Mailman to decide who to send the message to? Or is it supposed to help recipients to build filters. Either way, it might be useful for the latter purpose. Perhaps it's a candidate for List-Topics?


If Topics are enabled for a list, Mailman decides the topics of a post
by matching the defining topic regexps against the Subject: and any
Keywords: header or pseudo-header.

The X-Topics: header is added to the message and contains the names of
all matching topics, but this is informational only. Delivery to those
users subscribed to matching topics is controlled by an equivalent list
of matching topics in the message's metadata.


>>>> X-Mailer
>>>
>>> I think we should use User-Agent here. Thunderbird does, as do some other mail clients. Or, we should push for introduction of a List-Agent header.
>>
>> Nothing in the changelog
>>
>> Some references to code in Mailman/Bouncers/*
>> Dunno what it does.
> 
> The message that I'm replying to doesn't seem to contain an X-mailer header.


The header is added by some mailers to identify themselves. It is used
by some of Mailman's heuristic bounce recognizers as part of their
recognition of non-standard DSNs.

-- 
Mark Sapiro <mark at msapiro.net>        The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California    better use your sense - B. Dylan