Subject: Re: [PATCH] send-email: clarify SMTP encryption settings

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2021 09:43:05 -0700

"Drew DeVault" <[email-masked]> writes:

> On Fri Apr 9, 2021 at 9:39 PM EDT, brian m. carlson wrote:
>> Since I agree that "ssl/tls" may be a bit confusing, maybe we could call
>> that option "wrapped" or "tunneled"? Other names are possible, of
>> course.
>
> I would prefer to name the options after the terms we can expect the
> user to find in their mail service provider's documentation, hence
> SSL/TLS and STARTTLS. Though I can see the confusion in including the
> slash, I'll figure something else out.

OK.  

 * My e-mail provider [*] seems to label these two as SSL/TLS
   (sometimes just TLS) and STARTTLS, but that is aligning how the
   popular client programs call these two methods, so it may not be
   a good datapoint.

 * GMail help page [*] seems to use 'SSL' vs 'STARTTLS' (they seem
   to support both).

 * Outlook.live.com/ help page [*] says they want you to use
   'STARTTLS' for SMTP, but they use 'SSL/TLS' to describe their
   IMAP and POP offerings.

With the above limited samples, I agree that the choices between
'SSL/TLS' and 'STARTTLS' would appear familiar to our end-users.

[Reference]

* https://helpspot.pobox.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=118
  https://helpspot.pobox.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=125
  https://helpspot.pobox.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=399

* https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7126229?hl=en

* https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/pop-imap-and-stmp-settings-8361e398-8af4-4e97-b147-6c6c4ac95353