a dot in the name ?

[Jorey Bump]

former03 | Baltasar Cevc wrote:
> 
> On 31.08.2006, at 14:11, Jorey Bump wrote:
>>
>> While it's common in *addresses*, it's arguably bad practice to 
>> include dots in *accounts* (it's achievable, but not reliably 
>> portable). FWIW, I handle these as aliases to a simpler account name 
>> (either in the aliases file or in $virtual_alias_maps).
> Well, that depends. If you use cyrus virtual domains support, it's quite 
> usual. And actually - I don't really see where the problem should be as 
> the only system in question is cyrus.

Correct, but having migrated such accounts to a completely different 
system that didn't allow dots in account names, I can say from 
experience that I feel much safer using simpler logins. While I'm 
pleased with Cyrus IMAP so far, I can't say that I will use it forever, 
and don't want to make irreversible choices.

I personally don't object to dots in *addresses*, but there are some 
valid arguments against their main use in embedding full names:

  http://www.sendmail.org/faq/section3.html#3.5

For technical reasons, this practice cannot easily become an 
international standard (until support for all character sets is 
universal). From a cultural perspective, what administrator wants to 
encourage a naming convention that may require a new login at some point 
(if the user gets married, for example)? For these reasons, I'm happier 
to implement these as aliases, as those are more easily changed than logins.

I'm not fanatical about these points, as our choice of mail system is so 
limited, but they are worth consideration.