MAS-WP-0003-T05: provider results in review, spec change proposals, gate recommendation
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com> Assistant: claude-code Assistant-Model: opus Assistant-Process: 252470@bnt-lap001 Assistant-Session: ad628c8f-4be2-4979-94c9-76c7ed6f8241
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# MAS v0.1 experiment review (first pass, 2026-10-08)
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# MAS v0.1 experiment review (2026-10-08, provider pass 2026-10-18)
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Status of MAS-WP-0002, Milestone 9. The answers below come from building
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`mas_core`, the `mas` CLI, `mas-gateway` and the reference ticket service,
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@ -8,9 +8,15 @@ loopback fixture servers).
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**Scope:** the MTA half of the email path was tested against a real
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Postfix (3.7.11, Debian bookworm, in Docker). The setup was SMTP → Postfix
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→ `pipe` transport → `mas-gateway` → reference ticket service
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(`experiments/postfix-probe/`). Mailbox providers (Gmail, Outlook,
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corporate gateways) and public DNS/MX were not involved. That half moves
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to **MAS-WP-0003**.
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(`experiments/postfix-probe/`).
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**Provider pass (MAS-WP-0003, 2026-10-18):** the same stack ran as a live MX
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for `mas.coulomb.social` on railiance01 (`deploy/railiance/`), with the
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statute at `https://mas.coulomb.social/.well-known/mas`. Real mail came from
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Gmail and Microsoft 365, and replies went out through Scaleway TEM. The
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evidence is the gateway's JSONL event log plus the Postfix log. Forwarding
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and mailing-list paths (T04) are still pending. Spec consequences are
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collected in `docs/spec-change-proposals.md`.
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## Answers to the review questions
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@ -95,11 +101,56 @@ The results:
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decision. The gateway forwarded it as `valid: false`, and the app
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ignored it.
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**Still untested (MAS-WP-0003):**
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- whether senders' providers and web forms accept `!` and `=` in recipient
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addresses;
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- overlap with SRS (`SRS0=...`) and VERP when forwarding;
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- facet stripping by providers.
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**Providers (tested, MAS-WP-0003):** four address forms were sent from
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four sender setups:
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- forms: `ticket!callback@`, `ticket=ID@`, `ticket=ID+comments@`,
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`ticket=RE=2026-4711@`;
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- sender setups: Gmail web, the Gmail mobile app, and a Microsoft 365 tenant via
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both Outlook mobile and Outlook desktop.
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| Sender | Compose form | Envelope recipient and To header | Transport |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| Gmail web | accepted all 4 unquoted | byte-identical | 209.85.x, STARTTLS, BDAT |
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| Gmail mobile | accepted all 4 unquoted | byte-identical | same |
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| M365, Outlook mobile | accepted all 4 unquoted | byte-identical | EOP 40.107.149.x |
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| M365, Outlook desktop | accepted all 4 unquoted | byte-identical | EOP 52.101.171.x |
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- **Nothing was rewritten, quoted, rejected or stripped.** That covers `!`,
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a doubled `=` and the `+comments` facet. The gateway classified every
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message as the probe predicted: P2 function with `callback` → 201
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created; P1 resource → 202; the facet was recognised.
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- **The reply direction also holds.** The service replied From
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`ticket=GS-85QJ8WC09P@mas.coulomb.social` through Scaleway TEM. Gmail
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showed the `=` From address as sent, with SPF, DKIM
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(d=mas.coulomb.social) and DMARC all passing. A plain Gmail "Reply" went
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back to that address byte-identical, with correct `In-Reply-To` and
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`References`, and was correlated to the ticket (200).
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- **Not covered:** consumer Outlook.com (the operator has no account; it
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uses the same Exchange Online path as M365), the Outlook-on-the-web
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compose form, and other providers such as Apple, Yahoo and GMX. Two
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providers is evidence that `!` and `=` work in practice; it is not a
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survey.
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**Operational findings from the live run:**
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- **Stock Postfix kills P2.** `smtpd_relay_restrictions` must contain a
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reject-class entry, or smtpd refuses to start. Also, unless
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`allow_untrusted_routing = yes`, Postfix ignores access-map results for
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local-parts containing `!` or `%` (it treats them as sender-specified
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routing). `reject_unauth_destination` then refuses every P2 address. The
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working MAS host config relays only `@DOMAIN` through an explicit
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regexp, turns off `swap_bangpath` and `allow_percent_hack`, and ends the
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list in `reject`. A host that "just enables MAS" on a default Postfix
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will silently lose all `!` mail.
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- **A TEM "blackhole" MX swallowed inbound mail.** Scaleway TEM's domain
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setup suggests `MX 10 blackhole.tem.scaleway.com`. Added next to the real
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MX at the same priority, it sent about half of all inbound mail to a
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discard host, and nobody got a bounce. Sending providers' setup wizards
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are a deliverability risk for MAS subdomains that receive mail.
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- **Outbound port 25 was blocked** at the hosting provider (and on a
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second host). Replies need an authenticated submission relay.
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**Still untested (T04):** overlap with SRS (`SRS0=...`) and VERP when
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forwarding, and facet stripping by forwarders and lists.
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### Resource addressing: did it improve correlation?
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Yes. The service replies *from* `ticket=GS-…@great-service.example`, so an
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@ -133,6 +184,12 @@ should either say this explicitly, or define "type intake" semantics for
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an opaque target that names a declared resource type.
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### Security: did any address start acting like a capability?
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(Addendum from the live run: an intake address such as `ticket!callback@`
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that auto-replies turns any forged `From:` into outbound mail to a third
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party. That is a backscatter/reflection vector at the application layer.
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The live deployment therefore caps all replies sent (300 in total, T06)
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and discards Postfix's own bounces. See SCP-5.)
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Not for reading or control. Knowing a ticket address grants no read access
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and no admin action. It does let anyone **append correspondence** to an
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open ticket, which is the intended function of a communication endpoint.
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@ -140,10 +197,20 @@ That is also an injection and spam vector. Ticket ids are non-guessable
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(10 Crockford base32 characters), but sender policy belongs to the
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application, not to MAS.
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## Next step (MAS-WP-0003, before the decision gate)
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Run the provider half on a real subdomain:
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- an MX pointing to a Postfix configured like the probe;
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- the statute served at `https://<sub>/.well-known/mas`;
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- test mail from Gmail, Outlook and one corporate gateway to
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`ticket!callback@`, `ticket=ID@` and `ticket=ID+comments@`, plus replies
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to the service's `ticket=ID@` From address.
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## Decision gate (MAS-WP-0002), recommendation
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The gate asks which additions answer a need the experiment demonstrated.
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This is a recommendation; the decision is the founder's.
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| Candidate | Demonstrated need? | Recommendation |
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|---|---|---|
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| Postfix/Exim integration | **Yes.** Default Postfix drops every P2 address, and the correct relay config is non-obvious | Build first: a documented, tested Postfix profile (later Exim) based on `deploy/railiance/entrypoint.sh` |
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| Spec v0.1.1 errata | **Yes**, SCP-1 to SCP-5 | Do alongside the integration |
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| Address composer | Weak. Providers accepted hand-typed addresses; the 64-octet budget and facet/interaction exclusivity are the only traps | Defer; `mas generate` in the CLI covers it |
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| Mail-client inspector | Not shown; nothing was rewritten that a user would need to see | Defer |
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| TypeScript / Go implementations | Not shown; no consumer outside Python yet | Defer until a second consumer exists |
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| Signed statutes | Not shown; pinned local statutes covered the operator case (see Discovery) | Defer |
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| P3 economic profile | Not exercised | Defer |
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T04 (SRS/VERP) could change the `!`/`=` row for forwarded mail. Revisit
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this table once T04 is done.
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145
docs/spec-change-proposals.md
Normal file
145
docs/spec-change-proposals.md
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# MAS v0.1 spec change proposals (from MAS-WP-0002/0003)
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Status: **draft for review**. These are proposals against
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`mas-v0.1-spec/`. The spec bundle stays unchanged until they are accepted,
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because `mas_conformance/` and `mas_core/schema/` are vendored copies and
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the tests check them for drift. Evidence references point to
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`docs/experiment-review.md`.
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Proposed target: a v0.1.1 errata release for SCP-1 to SCP-3 and SCP-5,
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which clarify or tighten without changing what canonical addresses mean.
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SCP-4 is informative only.
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---
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## SCP-1: quoted local-parts that are valid dot-strings are equivalent
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**Sections:** §4 Canonical ASCII local-part, §8 Address equivalence.
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**Evidence:** Postfix delivered `"ticket=PR42"@…` as `ticket=PR42` in all
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five probe configurations (RFC 5321 treats unnecessary quoting as
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equivalent). A receiver behind an MTA cannot tell which form the sender
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used.
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**Proposed text (§4, after the second paragraph):**
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> A quoted local-part whose content, after removing the quotes and with no
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> quoted-pairs, is a valid canonical MAS local-part is equivalent to that
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> unquoted form. Receivers MUST treat the two identically. Generators MUST
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> emit the unquoted form.
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**Impact:** clarification only. No parser change, since quoted input still
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does not parse. A new conformance fixture should record the equivalence.
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---
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## SCP-2: resource-type names are lower-case
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**Sections:** §6.1 Resource types, grammar `resource-type`, §8.
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**Evidence:** the ABNF accepts `Ticket=PR42`, but the statute schema only
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registers lower-case type names. The address parses but can never match a
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declared type, even under `ascii-insensitive`.
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**Options:**
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- **(a) recommended:** restrict `resource-type` in the grammar to lower-case
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ALPHA, DIGIT and `-`. `Ticket=PR42` then parses as an opaque target, which
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is the safe outcome under §6.1 ("no semantics solely because of `=`").
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- (b) keep the grammar and state in §8 that the statute's equivalence policy
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also applies to the type name.
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(a) keeps the type a protocol token rather than user data, and it matches
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the schema. (b) makes type matching depend on the statute, which is
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exactly the hidden inference §8 tries to avoid.
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**Impact:** (a) is a grammar tightening. None of the 31 shared conformance
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fixtures uses an upper-case type, so a new fixture (`Ticket=PR42` →
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opaque) records the change. No repo test uses one either.
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Live traffic in MAS-WP-0003 used only lower-case types.
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---
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## SCP-3: type-intake semantics for `TYPE!MODE`
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**Section:** §7 Interaction semantics.
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**Evidence:** in `ticket!callback`, the target `ticket` is an opaque
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target with no defined link to the resource type `ticket`. The canonical
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§7 example implies one. In the experiment, the statute had to register
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`ticket` as a function (registry key) and the service had to know what
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that means. Live, `ticket!callback@mas.coulomb.social` worked from Gmail
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and M365 only because of that registry entry.
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**Proposed text (§7, new paragraph):**
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> An opaque target that equals a resource type declared in the statute,
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> and that the statute also registers as a function, is that type's
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> *intake*: mail to it requests creation or selection of a resource of
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> that type. Without such a registration the target has no intake
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> semantics, even if it equals a declared resource type.
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Also add a statute-schema field such as `"intake_for": "ticket"` on
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registry entries, so the link is declared rather than implied by equal
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names.
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**Impact:** additive; the schema gains an optional field. The policy
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resolver reports `intake_for` when it is present.
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---
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## SCP-4 (informative): deliverability evidence for `!` and `=`
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**Section:** §12 Deliverability and rewriting.
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**Evidence:** Gmail (web and app) and Microsoft 365 (Outlook mobile and
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desktop) accepted and delivered all four test forms byte-identical. That
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includes `!`, a doubled `=` and a `+` facet, both inbound and in a reply to
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an `=` From address. Postfix 3.7 never applied the legacy `!`/`%` rewrites
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to MAS addresses carrying an `@domain`. Pending: SRS and VERP (MAS-WP-0003
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T04).
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**Proposal:** keep the normative text. Add an informative note recording
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the tested paths, and an implementation note that a default Postfix relay
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configuration rejects every local-part containing `!` (see SCP-5 and the
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review's operational findings). The "cooperating environments" wording for
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`!` stays until T04 has covered forwarding.
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---
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## SCP-5: intake auto-replies are a reflection vector
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**Section:** §14 Security (items 4 and 5).
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**Evidence:** an intake address that answers every request (as
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`ticket!callback@` does with "your request is now ticket …") sends mail to
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whatever `From:` the request carried. A forged `From:` makes the service
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send mail to a third party, which is backscatter in all but name. §14.5
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only says "avoid backscatter" and is usually read as covering MTA bounces.
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The live deployment had to add an application-level cap (T06) and discard
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MTA bounces to keep the relay bounded.
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**Proposed text (§14, new item):**
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> 10. A receiver that automatically replies to mail sent to an intake or
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> interaction address SHOULD reply only when the sender is
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> authenticated (for example DMARC alignment pass), and MUST bound
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> the volume of such replies (rate limits or caps). Replies MUST NOT
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> be sent to automated mail (`Auto-Submitted`, `Precedence`).
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**Impact:** normative for receivers. The reference ticket service already
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skips automated mail and has a send cap. A DMARC check would need the
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gateway to pass `Authentication-Results` in the event, which is a small
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event-schema addition.
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---
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## Lower-priority gaps (no proposal yet)
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Recorded in the review, not urgent:
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- interaction-mode names allowed by the value grammar but not by the schema
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(`call.back`, `a=b`);
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- registry keys containing `=` or leading/trailing dots, which need semantic
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lint;
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- discovery: whether the content type is checked, and the exact redirect
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same-origin rule;
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- statute-declared facets.
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@ -199,7 +199,7 @@ counted.
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```task
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id: MAS-WP-0003-T05
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status: todo
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status: progress
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priority: high
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state_hub_task_id: "63e86851-9c7d-5ce8-977f-5d09268d9dcc"
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```
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@ -208,3 +208,11 @@ Fold the results into `docs/experiment-review.md`. Turn the spec gaps
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(quoted equivalence, resource-type case, type-intake semantics for
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`ticket!MODE`) into spec change proposals. Then take the MAS-WP-0002
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decision gate.
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- 2026-10-18: provider results (T02/T03) and operational findings are in
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`docs/experiment-review.md`. `docs/spec-change-proposals.md` holds
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SCP-1 (quoted equivalence), SCP-2 (lower-case resource types), SCP-3
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(type intake), SCP-4 (informative deliverability) and SCP-5 (intake
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auto-reply reflection). The review ends with a decision-gate
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recommendation; the founder decides. Pending: T04 results, then
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revisit SCP-4 and the gate table.
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