Logs vs. headers

[David Lee]

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004, Julian Field wrote:

> At 15:45 26/04/2004, you wrote:
> >On Mon, 26 Apr 2004, Denis Beauchemin wrote:
> >
> > > Kevin Brouelette wrote:
> > >
> > > >X-VarLog.net-MailScanner-Information:  Please contact the ISP for more
> > information
> > > >X-VarLog.net-MailScanner-SpamCheck:  spam, SpamAssassin (score=3.43,
> > > >required 2.5, BIZ_TLD 0.78, RCVD_IN_DYNABLOCK 2.55, RCVD_IN_SORBS 0.10)
> > > >X-VarLog.net-MailScanner-SpamScore:  sss
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > Kevin,
> > >
> > > You seem to have a dot in your org name (VarLog.net).  This is a bad
> > > idea because it will get you into trouble on some systems.
> >
> >This configuration problem seems to crop up several times on the list.
> >
> >Could I suggest that MailScanner itself does a sanity check?  When it
> >loads "MailScanner.conf" it could check that these various header
> >definitions (e.g. "Information Header" etc.) to ensure that there are no
> >glaring errors.
>
> It's not an error in the header, it's an error in the way that Symantec's
> mail products incorrectly interpret the headers.

Sorry, my loose use of the word "error".  I agree that a "." in an email
header (e.g. "X-VarLog.net-MailScanner-SpamScore:") does not seem to be a
technical breach of RFC2822.

But it is nevertheless unusual, isn't it?  Might it be unusual enough to
warrant MS at least issuing a friendly warning-like (non-fatal) advisory
diagnostic of some sort?  That the email administrator might wish to
consider avoiding the "." in such MS-inserted headers?  (Hinting and
helping folk towards the wise Internet code-of-conduct of being
"conservative in what you send" etc.)

Just a thought!

--

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