On Mon, 8 Jan 2024 02:40:39 -0800
Ron / BCLUG via talk <[email protected]> wrote:
> ac via talk wrote on 2024-01-08 02:22:
> 
> > the ~ means if it is not from your servers it is also okay.
> > 
> > the - means ONLY from your severs.  
> 
> The link I posted earlier (linuxbabe.com) had an interesting take on
> "~" vs "-" and why the former is preferable:
> 
I do not know this website, sounds like a general self help or newbie 
support type site? 

for real/working technical and real/working production servers and
settings the best is to look/read/study the RFC link in my previous
reply.

RFC generally guides us on how things work (or should work) 

> If a multi-host (postfix) site receives your mail (like Google?) and
> it gets relayed between their servers (perhaps main one is down for 
> maintenance), and the final server gets the mail from the backup,
> sees "-", it may reject it.
> 
uhm, no. this is just not how it works. If you include +mx in your SPF
any changes to your zone or MX PRI will automagically be included in
+mx as mx is also multiple/all records as defined in your zone (or even
properly delegated zone))

IF your +mx is not updated/broken in your zone, or an undefined
server/IP has taken over your actual mx without any updates in your
zone, your email will be broken anyway and any.example.com will be able
to send and receive email as your domain. you will have larger problems
than me bouncing or -all realy (and who bounces on -all anyway?) you
should SCORE -all as part of your SCORING.

and, if you are trying to say that GOOGLE.com sends or realys your
email - then you need to include GOOGLE.com in your SPF as they are
YOUR SENDER?

there is just nothing else to say or other correct technical opinions
to have because --> it is what it is :)

> Not sure if this is correct, but did cause pause for thought and am 
> considering changing "-" to "~" on my domains.
> 

hmm, and these things are technical science and is not really about
"feelings" so no, as this imnsho is not the best and you should not
even be thinking about how you feel.

You should be thinking : "What do I want" and "What do I want to do"
and the next thought should be : "How do I tell others that this is
what I want to do" and not wonder about how you feel about it :)

I tried speaking to someone the other day who "felt" that the earth was
flat. It is just very difficult to negotiate or even chat with someone
who has strong "feelings" about science and similar stuff...

But if you "feel" that you have to change your dns records, go for it :)

If you change it to "~" then anyone on the planet can send email as
originating from your email address.

So how it works in practise for me:

If I receive email and SOFT FAIL (not in your SPF) I score it a +1 to
+3 somewhere (depending on how strict/hard that specific email server
of mine is)

If I receive email and HARD FAIL (not in your SPF) I SCORE it a +4 to
+8 somewhere (depending on how strict/hard that specific email server
of mine is)

So, it is all about scoring - if you reach a high enough score I never
receive your email and it is either hard bounce or, if small, /dev/nul

so, having an actual working email system today is all about scores and
scoring :)

Anyway, as it relates to SPF (as per the current RFC)

it is about what YOU want to happen.

the "S" in SPF is "SENDER" (not RECEIVER)

What do YOU want to tell recipients of YOUR email relay?

do YOU want to tell them "~" accept email when sent from my domain from
anyone on the planet?

OR

do YOU want to tell them "-" accept ONLY email from MY servers

Of course, if you relay through GOOGLE - you DO NOT have to worry,
google.com uses google.com all throughout their relay (which is
actually one of the very few cool things remaining about google)

BUT, If you relay through example.com and example.com then relays
through example1.com who also relays through example2.com whom relays
through any random email server out there - then you WILL HAVE to add
"~" to allow example2.com to deliver your important mail communications
wherever. 

hth

Andre
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