Auto-responders (was Re: [Mimedefang] ADMINISTRIVIA: Out-of-office replies)

[David F. Skoll]

-ray wrote:

> So while we're on the subject, what is the proper way for an
> auto-responder to tell if this is a mailing list?  We use a procmail
> script that pulls a vacation message from LDAP for our users.

There are several clues that an auto-response would be bad:

1) Precedence: list

(Sendmail's "vacation" program won't send out a reply if it sees
that header.)

2) The various List-* headers (RFC 2919)

3) The fact that your e-mail address does not appear in a To: or Cc: header.
Again, "vacation" will not reply to message unless your e-mail address
(or a set of aliases that you configure) appears in To: or Cc:.

> Does the presence of a "Precedence: list" header always denote mailing
> list?

No, but it's almost always the case.

> Also when we reply, I add a
> "Precedence: junk (autoreply)" header.  Is that also standard/correct?

Yes.  You should also add an:

      Auto-Submitted: auto-replied

header.  (RFC 3834)

Regards,

David.