WG Action: SPF Update (spfbis)

[IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>]

A new IETF working group has been formed in the Applications Area.  For 
additional information, please contact the Area Directors or the WG 
Chairs.

SPF Update (spfbis)
-----------------------------------------
Last Updated: 2012-02-01

Chair(s):
 Andrew Sullivan <[e-mail]>
 S Moonesamy <[e-mail]>

Applications Area Director(s):
 Pete Resnick <[e-mail]>
 Peter Saint-Andre <[e-mail]>

Applications Area Advisor:
 Pete Resnick <[e-mail]>

Mailing Lists:
 General Discussion: [e-mail]
 To Subscribe:	https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/spfbis
 Archive:	http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/spfbis/

Description of Working Group:

    The Sender Policy Framework (SPF, RFC4408) specifies the publication
    of a DNS record which states that a listed IP address is authorized
    to send mail on behalf of the listing domain name's owner.  SMTP
    servers extract the domain name in the SMTP "MAIL FROM" or "HELO"
    command for confirming this authorization.  The protocol has had
    Experimental status for some years and has become widely deployed.
    This working group will summarize the result of the experiment and
    revise the specification, based on deployment experience and listed
    errata, and will seek Standards Track status for the protocol.

    The MARID working group considered two specifications for
    publication of email-sending authorization:  Sender-ID, which
    eventually became RFC4405, RFC4406 and RFC4407, and SPF, which
    eventually became RFC4408, all in the end published under
    Experimental status.  By using IP addresses, both protocols specify
    authorization in terms of path, though unlike SPF, Sender-ID uses
    domain names found in the header of the message rather than the
    envelope.

    The two protocols rely on the same policy publication mechanism,
    namely a specific TXT resource record in the DNS.  This creates a
    basic ambiguity about the interpretation of any specific instance of
    the TXT record.  Because of this, there were concerns about
    conflicts between the two in concurrent operation.  The IESG note
    prepended to RFC 4405 through RFC 4408 defined an experiment with
    SPF and Sender-ID, and invited an expression of community consensus
    in the period following the publication of those specifications.

    Both technologies initially enjoyed widespread deployment.  Since
    that time, broad SPF use has continued, whereas use of Sender-ID has
    slackened.  Furthermore, SPF's linkage to the envelope (as opposed
    to Sender-ID's linkage to identifiers in the message content) has
    proven sufficient among operators.

    Formation of the SPF Update Working Group is predicated on three
    assumptions:

    1. The SPF/Sender-ID experiment has concluded.

    2. SPF has been a qualified success, warranting further development.

    3. Sender-ID has had less success, and no further development is justified.

    The working group will produce a document describing the course of
    the SPF/Sender-ID experiment, thus bringing that experiment to a
    formal conclusion.  The group will complete additional work on SPF
    (described below), but will not complete additional work on the
    Sender-ID specification.

    Changes to the SPF specification will be limited to the correction
    of errors, removal of unused features, addition of any enhancements
    that have already gained widespread support, and addition of
    clarifying language.

    Specifically out-of-scope for this working group:

    * Revisiting past technical arguments where consensus was reached in
      the MARID working group, except where review is reasonably
      warranted based on operational experience.

    * Discussion of the merits of SPF.

    * Discussion of the merits of Sender-ID in preference to SPF.

    * Extensions to the SPF protocols.

    * Removal of existing features that are in current use.
    
    Discussion of extensions to the SPF protocols or removal of
    existing features shall only be discussed after completion of
    current charter items in anticipation of rechartering the working
    group.

    An initial draft of an updated SPF specification document is
    draft-kitterman-4408bis. The working group may choose to use this
    document as a basis for their specification.

Goals and Milestones:

Aug 2012:  A document describing the SPF/Sender-ID experiment and its 
           conclusions to the IESG for publication.

Dec 2012:  A standards track document defining SPF, based on RFC4408 and 
           as amended above, to the IESG for publication.