lynx-dev Forwarded mail....

[Klaus Weide]

The below message refers to a problem with honoring or not honoring
the "Personal mail address", please read the previous conversation
under <http://www.debian.org/Bugs/db/40/40435.html> - especially
if you are the person responsible for the change of the
NO_ANONYMOUS_EMAIL default...

It seems to me Francesco is right, and the default should have not been
changed.  But I think there was extensive and maybe heated discussion
about this in the past, which I didn't follow, I don't really want to
get into it now.

But whether the default stays as it is or not, something should be done.
- the behavior is inconsistent (sometimes the "personal mail address" is
  used, and sometimes it isn't.  (e.g. mailto: URL as form action vs. as
  link)
- Documentation (including .lynxrc comment) doesn't reflect the change.
  It seems to describe the non-default behavior. 
- "Personal mail address" should not be offered on the 'O'ptions screen
  as such if it isn't used as such.

As far as the Debian package is concerned, I see nothing wrong with
the Debian maintainer deviating from the default if he chooses so.
The reason for the lynx-dev default setting (if there is a good one)
may not apply to a Debian package (e.g. assuming all Debian MTAs behave
reasonably.  And hopefully nobody would offer anonymous lynx guest logins
to the world using a binary package without careful examination.).


  Klaus

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 1999 18:23:21 +0200 (CEST)
From: Francesco Potorti` <address@hidden>
To: Klaus Weide <address@hidden>
Cc: address@hidden

Sorry for the delay.
   
   This is from 2.8.1 userdefs.h:
   
   /********************************
    * Comment this line out to let the user enter his/her email address
    * when sending a message.  There should be no need to do this unless
    * your mailer agent does not put in the From: field for you.  (If your
    * mailer agent does not automatically put in the From: field, you should
    * upgrade, because anonymous mail makes it far too easy for a user to
    * spoof someone else's email address.)
    */
   #define NO_ANONYMOUS_EMAIL TRUE

If i am not wrong, no one should be worried about this.  People can set its
From: header to whatever they like, but  the MTA will add a Sender: line if
the  user  is not  trusted.   Moreover, the  MTA  will  put an  appropriate
envelope around the mail message.

On the other  hand, preventing the user  from adding a From: line  is not a
good idea  in any case.  In  most situations, the  system cannot reasonably
guess the  correct mail  address of a  user, like  when one has  dynamic IP
address, or when  is behind a firewall, or more simply  when mail is popped
from a server, rather than being received directly via SMTP.

So I suggest that the above line  in userdefs.h be commented out.  It was a
bad idea to uncomment it in the first place.

Please forward this message to the lynx maintainer list if you see fit.