In <200410190945(_dot_)54723(_dot_)blilly(_at_)erols(_dot_)com> Bruce Lilly
<blilly(_at_)erols(_dot_)com> writes:
On Mon October 18 2004 09:56, Charles Lindsey wrote:
Ergo there is no necessity for <id-right>s to be compared
case-insensitively
No, in the first place it is recommended to be a domain name,
which is always case-insensitive.
But once the domain name has been copied into the id-right (whether in
upper or lower case) it is no longer a domain name for any protocol
purpose. It is merely a string of characters consistent with the
<id-right> syntax. No subsequent transport or copying process has any
business changing it, and its only purpose is to be compared for identity
with other <id-right>s for the removal of duplicates, for threading, etc.
For those purposes, a case-sensitive comparison is perfectly adequate.
Moreover, there are various circumstances (explained at length)
where case of the RHS may be changed, and only a case-
insensitive comparison will work correctly under those (not
unusual) circumstances.
No, there are no such circumstances, and you have explained none, in spite
of being asked to do so (I do not regard your friend reading a message
identifier over the telephone as a significant problem).
and the change introduced by RFC 2822 is a welcome
simplification of the protocol.
It is not a simplification; it complicates matters since it is
no longer possible to determine whether or not the RHS is
a domain name, and if it is not, there is no indication of
whether or not it is case-sensitive.
Nobody gives a damn whether an <id-right> is a domain or not.
--
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Tel: +44 161 436 6131 Fax: +44 161 436 6133 Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
Email: chl(_at_)clerew(_dot_)man(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave,
CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K.
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