[Mimedefang] GMail (was Re: stripping Received headers based on authentication)

[David F. Skoll]

Joseph Brennan wrote:

> I was baiting you :-)  The HTTP hop from end user to Gmail's webmail
> server is not SMTP, so it's not covered by RFC 2821.

Well, RFC 5321 says:

   When forwarding a message into or out of the Internet environment, a
   gateway MUST prepend a Received: line, but it MUST NOT alter in any
   way a Received: line that is already in the header section.

and it defines a gateway as:

   As discussed in Section 2.3.10, when such a system is at the
   boundary between two transport service environments, we refer to it
   as a "gateway" or "gateway SMTP".

So... I would say that gmail.com is violating a MUST requirement of
RFC 5321.

> Here's something similar.  When I log into a timeshare and send mail
> with Pine, you don't get to see the ssh hop from my Mac either.

There's no email gatewaying going on between your Mac and Pine.  And
the IP address of the Pine box is sufficient to determine the
organization (maybe even the person) responsible for originating the mail.

> I agree that it is extremely desirable to have the originating IP
> and like you I wish Gmail would provide it.  I just don't think
> it's a standards violation.

As I read RFC 5321, it seems like a violation.

Regards,

David.