Yes, it may be true that RegExs are foreign to most people (myself included to a certain degree), but wouldn't it make MM more flexible?
There can be such a thing as "too flexible". After all, a C compiler and a Python interpreter are about as flexible as you can get -- so why don't you code your own features in them?
And wouldn't it be easier for Barry to implement?
Maybe. However, we have to consider more than just the implementation cost -- there is also the support cost to consider. If it costs 10x or 100x as much to support the regex feature because it's too flexible and too confusing to too many people, then it's not worth the effort.
Do you see my point? If there are an absolutely fixed number of types of headers that could across, then I could see that going your way would work better, but since I can add any header to an outgoing mail that I want, with my e-mail client (like I did with this e-mail), then should the MM admins be given the opportunity to strip them with a RegEx?
Okay, so a Keep-These-Headers option being restricted to just the following:
From:
Subject:
To:
Cc:
Date:Is not capable of stripping all possible headers that could potentially be generated? Sorry, I don't buy it.
The only thing that using a regex would do for you that cannot easily be done with a strip-these-headers/keep-these-headers option is the case of multiple headers which share some subset of their name and for which you want the same action to be taken (e.g., strip all headers matching "^List.*:").
I'm just not sure that it would be worth the effort to get this relatively small additional functionality, given the potential additional support cost that would result.
But only Barry could really answer this question.
Wouldn't safety be to not mess with the mail while passing through MM?
No, "safety" would be to strip everything that is not known to be safe, such as the minimal list of headers shown above.
I understand that the RFC are for MTA and MUAs, but shouldn't MM follow them as well? As well as we can anyway?
Where it makes sense, yes. But as I said before, a Mailing List Manager is effectively a type of gateway system, and while there are a small number of documents that describe what are considered to be Best Current Practices for MLMs, there are no Required or Recommended RFCs that are specifically aimed at them. As such, you need to apply a lot of interpretation when you're looking at RFCs that are written for MTAs or MUAs, and try to figure out which parts are applicable to MLMs and which ones are not.
I'm not trying to argue, just trying to get thing straighened out in my mind.
This is a point of deep discussion amongst the most experienced people in the field. You are not expected to fully understand all the nuances involved.
-- Brad Knowles, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.SAGE member since 1995. See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.
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