Subject: Re: [MORG] Address search

From: Arnt Gulbrandsen <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:38:39 +0100

Timo Sirainen writes:
>> The following fourteen address fields MUST be supported: From, To,  
>> Cc, Bcc, Reply-To, Return-Path, Sender, Resent-Bcc, Resent-Cc,  
>> Resent-From, Resent-Sender and Resent-To.
>
> There's only 12.. Fourteen also mentioned later in document.

The miscount goes back to the first version-controlled version. No idea 
which two fields I deleted or why.

I changed it to twelve now. I'd like to know what the last two were, but 
I can't remember and it isn't in the SCM, so...

>> All three search keys use either a client-specified list of address  
>> fields, or all supported fields.
>
> Is it actually useful to support searching all fields?

People tell me they want that, but they mean all the fields they 
commonly use, typically From, To, Cc, Reply-To. If I then ask 
specifically about e.g. Resent-From, the typical answer is an uncertain 
yes-like sound.

I take this to mean that the set is useful, and those four have to be in 
the set, but what else is there isn't all that important.

>> 3.5. Client Fallbacks
> ..
>> Matching a localpart can be done either with "FROM <fred@" (which
> ..
>> Note that some widely-used servers process address fields as part of  
>> parsing, so that e.g. "From: <[email-masked]>" may be rewritten as 
>>  "From: [email-masked]" or the other way around. Some of these  
>> fallback searches may yield different results on different servers.
>
> Right. So is it really even useful to suggest using "FROM <fred@"?

If it could be done well without this extension, then the extension 
would be pointless. Is it useful to suggest how the client might fall 
back to a server which doesn't offer the extension? I think yes, 
because I have the impression that handling the has/hasn't divide is a 
stumbling block for client implementers.

(I just spent an hour on the phone with someone about how to cope with 
condstore or not condstore. Such a section in 4551 would have saved me 
that hour.)

Arnt