Editor's Note: Minutes received 7/31 CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_ Reported by Russ Hobby/UC Davis Minutes of the Email Requirements BOF (MAILREQ) The BOF was started with several questions about working on email requirements. WHY? Because the protocols do not specify everything. No one document puts all the information in one place. WHAT? Scope to look at: Internet? Email World? Gateways? Audience: Implementors? Operators? Users? Documents: How many and what? HOW? Next step beyond the BOF? WHO? There needs to be a Working Group Chair. There needs to be writers for the documents. The Group came up with a gripe/wish list to focus on what work should be done and what documents would be written. The list was: 1. Email flow control 2. Clarify 822 ambiguities 3. Better/standard error messages and tracking 4. Guidelines for handling violations 5. Management of list exploders 6. Duplicate suppression 7. Server command sets 8. Distributed message storage 9. Email API 10. Verify that recipient exists 11. Common Terminology 12. Email MIB 13. Automatic verification of delivery/reading 14. Multipath elimination 15. Email routing protocol 16. Vacation mail requirements 17. Retry and reporting requirements 18. Know when a message comes from a list 19. Postmaster behavior requirements 20. Dynamic and more detailed MX 21. Human readable errors 22. Email/directory interface. There was discussion of several possible documents that could be produced. There was general agreement that there really needs to be a document or group of documents that define an overall email architecture. This would help us describe where we are with email today and provide direction for work. It was also suggested that we think of 1 email messages as "Big Packets" and use some of the technology that we now use for our packet networks in the email world. Suggested documents were: 1. Email Architecture (three possible documents) o The Big Email Picture (General email components and terminology) o Internet Email Architecture (SMTP/822/MIME/...) o Email Gateways 2. "Packet" Email System 3. Email MIB 4. Listserve Command Syntax 5. List Behavior and Management 6. Error Messages and Handling 7. Implementor's Email Requirements 8. Email/Directory Interface 9. How to find an Email Address 10. Quality of Email Service There was agreement that these issue urgently need addressing and that a Working Group should be formed. The following mail list will be created for further discussion: ietf-mailreq@ucdavis.edu for Group discussion ietf-mailreq-request@ucdavis.edu for list adds and drops Attendees Mark Bokhan bokhan@abitok.enet.dec.com Luc Boulianne lucb@cs.mcgill.ca James Conklin jbc@bitnic.educom.edu David Crocker dcrocker@mordor.stanford.edu Roger Fajman raf@cu.nih.gov Jill Foster jill.foster@newcastle.ac.uk Ned Freed ned@innosoft.com Tony Genovese genovese@nersc.gov Terry Gray gray@cac.washington.edu Alf Hansen Alf.Hansen@delab.sintef.no Russ Hobby rdhobby@ucdavis.edu Tim Howes Tim.Howes@umich.edu. Erik Huizer huizer@surfnet.nl Todd Kaehler kaehler@zk3.dec.com Neil Katin katin@eng.sun.com David Katinsky dmk@rutgers.edu John Klensin klensin@infoods.mit.edu Jim Knowles jknowles@trident.arc.nasa.gov Keith Moore moore@cs.utk.edu 2 John Murray murray@premenos.sf.ca.us Michael Patton map@lcs.mit.edu Michael Powell mdpowel@pacbell.com Anthony Rutkowski amr@sprint.com Tim Seaver tas@concert.net Mark Smith mcs@umich.edu Gregory Vaudreuil gvaudre@nri.reston.va.us John Wagner jwagner@princeton.edu Fred Ziegler ziegler@aspentec.com 3