Technical Summary
This document specifies a message header field called Authentication-
Results for use with electronic mail messages to indicate the results
of message authentication efforts. Any receiver-side software, such
as mail filters or Mail User Agents (MUAs), can use this header field
to relay that information in a convenient and meaningful way to users
or to make sorting and filtering decisions.
This document updates RFC 7001 to resolve errata regarding
Authentication-Results values in the Email Authentication Parameters
registry not being well specified in current references. When RFC 5451
was obsoleted by RFC 7001, not all the definitions were brought forward.
Review and Consensus
During 7001bis development there was a robust discussion within appsawg with
six participants active during various phases of the discussion. In the course of
development of 7001bis, there was a comprehensive review of the status and
Specification of all the elements of the Email Authentication Parameters
registry. Additional changes were captured to both make sure the entries in
the registry were all adequately documented and that the contents of the
registry were correct and current.
The major point of complexity in this update was writing an IANA
Considerations section that would result in a correct registry state
(particularly references).
The consensus appears to be broad on this update. There were no real points
of controversy.
This update is primarily intended to make the documentation match reality, so
it is not expected to affect current Authentication-Results implementation.
The improved documentation, both in 7001bis and in the Email Authentication
Parameters Registry, should assist future implementation work.
Personnel
The document shepherd is Scott Kitterman.
The responsible Area Director is Barry Leiba.