Subject: DOC-BUG: -pra intro

From: Roy Badami <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 19:58:05 +0100

-pra currently says

   This document describes an algorithm that allows one to determine who
   appears to have most recently caused an e-mail message to be
   delivered.  It does this by inspecting the headers in the message.
   [RFC2822] contains a detailed specification of all of the relevant
   headers.

I think this is the wrong approach, particularly now we have split out
PRA from Sender ID, and it might be used for other things, too.

We should be defining an identity.  Then we can comment on what it's
useful for.

I propose this should be replaced with:

   This document defines a new identity associated with a message,
   called the purported responsible address, which is determined by
   inspecting the header of the message.  [RFC2822] contains a
   detailed specification of all of the relevant header fields.

   The purported responsible address is designed to correspond to the
   entity that (according to the header) most recently caused an
   e-mail message to be delivered.

   The algorithm for determining the purported responsible address
   from the header of a message is given in section 2.

Also:

   For this reason, the result of the algorithm is called the
   "Purported Responsible Address" -- "purported" because it tells you
   what a message claims about where it came from, but not necessarily
   where it actually came from.

I believe this paragraph should be deleted as it relates to one
specific use of the PRA algorithm.

The PRA algorithm may be of use in circumstances where the headers are
known to be authentic.  Indeed, [SUBMITTER] requires that the PRA
algorithm be run by the sender as well as the recipient.

(See also my separate post suggesting that we rename the purported
responsible address so as to remove the word "purported")

	    -roy

---

From: Roy Badami <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 20:01:51 +0100

Also:

   This document does not prescribe any particular uses for the
   Purported Responsible Address.  However, [SenderID] describes a
   method of determining whether a particular MTA is authorized to send
   mail on behalf of the domain contained in the PRA.

This paragraph should also reference [SUBMITTER]

     -roy

---

From: Roy Badami <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2004 00:48:38 +0100

>>>>> "Roy" == Roy Badami <[email-masked]> writes:
    Roy> (See also my separate post suggesting that we rename the
    Roy> purported responsible address so as to remove the word
    Roy> "purported")

FWIW, I've withdrawn that proposal.  I still believe the other changes
to the intro of -pra are appropriate, however.

	-roy