Network Working Group RJ Atkinson INTERNET DRAFT Not Organised draft-rja-mua-hints-00.txt September 2001 Configuration Hints for Common Mail User Agents STATUS OF THIS MEMO This document is an Internet-Draft and is subject to all provisions in Section 10 of RFC-2026. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at: http://www.ietf.org/1id-abstracts.html. The list of current Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. ABSTRACT This informational document describes how certain common Mail User Agents can be configured for conformance with the IETF Mailing List Guidelines. Subject to normal processes and procedures, this draft might some day be published as an Informational RFC. [NOTE: Any comments should be sent to the document editor as email, strongly preferably with a clear Subject: line indicating this draft is the topic. Comments with specific proposed edits are much more helpful than broad general comments.] Atkinson Expires in 6 months [Page 1]
Internet Draft MUA Configuration Hints 7 September 2001 1. Introduction The IETF uses mailing lists as its primary method for accomplishing work. In normal practice, each IETF Working Group has at least one mailing list that is used principally for discussions within that Working Group's charter. The IETF has developed a set of Mailing List Guidelines. While these guidelines are optimised for interoperability, some Mail User Agent implementers have optimised for other objectives. This document provides information on how to configure certain common Mail User Agents to send mail in a format more nearly consistent with the IETF Mailing List Guidelines. 2. America Online (AOL) Mail Client By default, the AOL Mail Client sends all email in HTML format. This default setting can be changed so that email is sent in text/plain format instead. [AOL] To cause AOL to always send mail in plain-text so that everyone is able to read it, please undertake these steps. Go to "Keyword:Preferences". Click on "Font, Text, & Graphics Preferences". Click on the RESET button at the bottom of the resulting window. Do not make any changes after hitting RESET. Then click on the SAVE button. To cause AOL to not send "vacation" or "Out of Office" messages to IETF mailing lists, undertake the following steps. [TBD. Help solicited] 3. Microsoft Outlook Mail Client family By default, many versions of Microsoft Outlook send all email in HTML or some other "enhanced" (sic) text format. This setting can be changed in most or all versions of Outlook. This informational appendix provides configuration hints for certain widely deployed versions of Microsoft Outlook for the benefit of IETF participants. For Microsoft Outlook 2000 or Microsoft Outlook Express 5, one should select the TOOLS pull-down menu, then select OPTIONS. In this dialogue, click on the MAIL FORMAT tab. Now, set the output format to be "Plain Text", instead of either "Rich Text" or "HTML". Also, Microsoft Outlook 2000 also permits both text format and charset to be set on a per-message basis. From the top window of the mail message, select FORMAT then PLAIN TEXT and also select FORMAT then ENCODING then US-ASCII. Now, right click on each Atkinson Expires in 6 months [Page 2]
Internet Draft MUA Configuration Hints 7 September 2001 addressee in turn, select SEND OPTIONS, then check the "I want to specify the format of messages sent to this recipient" option, then check the PLAIN TEXT radio button, then uncheck the BINHEX box as the attachment type. Note that the "right click on addressee step" and the other steps need to be done for EACH recipient on EACH message. To cause Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or Exchange to NOT send "vacation" or "Out of Office" messages to IETF mailing lists, one should undertake these steps. [TBD. Accurate text solicited.] 4. Qualcomm Eudora Mail Client Many versions of Qualcomm Eudora have the capability of sending mail in one or another "enhanced" (sic) text format. This setting can be changed in most or all versions of Eudora. This informational appendix provides configuration hints for certain widely deployed versions of Qualcomm Eudora. To disable the sending of HTML or fancy text formats in email originated by Eudora, one uses the TOOLS menu to select OPTIONS. Then one scrolls to STYLED TEXT. On the STYLED TEXT menu, one ensures that the radio button marked "Send plain text only" is selected and that the box marked "Send the signature with styles" is NOT selected. Eudora does not send "Out of Office" or "vacation" messages, so no special configuration instructions are needed for that. 5. Security Considerations This document raises no new security issues because it merely provides information about configuration of certain deployed MUAs. Email is generally insecure. Folks concerned about email security should consider employing IETF standards-track protocols to protect their email. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to thank (in alphabetical order) William Dixon and Paul Hoffman for assistance in obtaining the information contained within this document and for early reviews of this document. The AOL information is taken directly from the online AOL FAQ at: "http://members.aol.com/adamkb/aol/mailfaq/#aol6html" Any grammatical or typographical errors here are the sole Atkinson Expires in 6 months [Page 3]
Internet Draft MUA Configuration Hints 7 September 2001 responsibility of the author. Kindly note that this draft is written in the English, not American, language. REFERENCES [ANSI86] ANSI, American Standard Code for Information Interchange, Standard X3.4, 1986. [AOL] AdamKB@aol.com, "The Unofficial AOL Email FAQ", http://members.aol.com/adamkb/aol/mailfaq/#aol6html, 4 March 2001. [RFC-2045] N. Freed, et alia, "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), Part 1, Internet Message Bodies", RFC-2045, November 1996. [RFC-2047] K. Moore, "Multipurpose Internet mail Extensions (MIME), Part 3, Message Header Extensions for non-ASCII Text", RFC-2047, November 1996. [RFC-2049] N. Freed, et alia, "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME), Part 5, Conformance Criteria and Examples", RFC-2049, November 1996. [RFC-2130] C. Weider, et alia, "Report of IAB Character Set Workshop held 29 February - 1 March 1996", RFC-2130, April 1997. [RFC-2142] D. Crocker, "Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles, & Functions", RFC-2142, May 1997. [RFC-2231] N. Freed & K. Moore, "MIME Parameter Value and Encoded Word Extensions: Character Sets, Languages, & Continuations", RFC-2231, November 1997. [RFC-2277] H. Alvestrand, "IETF Policy on Character Sets & Languages", RFC-2277, January 1998. [RFC-2279] F. Yergeau, "UTF-8, A Transformation format of ISO-10646", RFC-2279, January 1998. [RFC-2418] S. Bradner, "IETF Working Group Guidelines & Procedures", RFC-2418, September 1996. [RFC-2505] G. Lindberg, "Anti-spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs", RFC-2505, February 1999. [RFC-2633] B. Ramsdell (Editor), "S/MIME Version 3 Message Specification", RFC-2633, June 1999. Atkinson Expires in 6 months [Page 4]
Internet Draft MUA Configuration Hints 7 September 2001 [RFC-2635] S. Hambridge & A. Lunde, "Don't Spew: A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings (spam)", RFC-2635, June 1999. [RFC-2821] J. Klensin (Editor), "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC-2821, April 2001. [RFC-2822] P. Resnick (Editor), "Internet Message Format", RFC-2822, April 2001. [RFC-3005] S. Harris, "IETF Discussion List Charter", RFC-3005, November 2000. Editor's Address RJ Atkinson Extreme Networks 3585 Monroe Street Santa Clara, CA 95051 USA Email: rja@extremenetworks.com Phone: +1 (408)579-2800 Atkinson Expires in 6 months [Page 5]