Re: ezmlm and BATV

Charles Cazabon <[email protected]> writes:

> ezmlm doesn't "validate" senders by anything appearing in the message --
> except in the "only subscribers may post" type of case.  In that case, the
> Return-Path: header is the envelope sender, the best address to use.  Why
> would you want to use the From: header contents instead?

Hi Charles,

*I* am not suggesting anything :-)  I think ezmlm works just fine, and I
 understand the return-path usage.  What I'm responding to is input from
 users who've been insisting for the past year that our lists are broken
 and need to be fixed _now_.  These same users are telling me that it's
 a trivial "fix" to have ezmlm validate subscriber-only postings via the
 FROM header.  I've been using qmail/ezmlm for many years and it doesn't
 seem trivial to me.  I thought I'd check with the list to see if I'm
 the only one hearing these kind of complaints.

>> and to so some
>> return-path manipulation to set the return-path to the list address.  
>
> Eh?  All outgoing list messages *already* have the envelope sender set
> to an address that goes back to the list software.  It's not clear
> what problem you think you're having, or what you're actually
> suggesting be done about it.

Yeah, I should have left that off, since it confuses me as well.  Again,
this is input from users who have specifically requested:

    "Update ezmlm to add a Sender: header with the list address (to
     allow SenderID)"

I don't know exactly what problem they are trying to solve here either.
The envelope sender works perfectly well to handle delivery bounces as
it should.  

I think the request to add a Sender header (not talking envelope sender
here) is the due the following complaint.  

    "The system sends mail out from their IP ranges while at the same time
    'forging' your email address/domain in the FROM and BOUNCE addresses
    after you post to it.  This is causing SPF/SID failures to occur since
    the email did NOT originate from your email system when sent to the
    subscribers of the mailing lists. If you are using the mailing list
    functions to send email you should have your IT people make necessary
    changes to your DNS records to ensure that email you post to the mailing
    lists passes SPF/SID checks when being received and resent on your
    behalf."

    "As some of you know, this is probably one of the most common problems
    with SPF/SID, forwarding services/mailing lists. In order to combat
    this, you need to add to your SPF/SID records an INCLUDE statement for
    the domain."

It's true that email passing through our lists did not originate from
the list, but rather from the original sender.  That's how lists work.
We're not doing anything funny with our lists, so again I'm just looking
for wisdom from other ezmlm list users here.  Any insight here would be
welcome.

Thanks,
John