The following are questions that have been raised about 8-bit SMTP
and 822 in the past:
Just what does "Just declare 8-bit mailers more functional." really
mean?
It really means that 7-bit mailers, which can't pass 8-bit messages
*TODAY*, won't be able to do so tomorrow either. (If you want the
new functionality, you'll have to upgrade your mailer and any that
you route through. But, if you don't want the new functionality,
you don't have to do anything.)
Ever hear of encoding? Encoding permits me, an 8-bit user, to pass 8-bit
material through 7-bit MTAs along to another 8-bit user (who of course knows
how to decode my encoding because it is standardized).
Sounds like a 7-bit mailer handling 8-bit messages to me. Would you care to
explain to me why this won't work? Gosh, I must be dreaming and my existing
applications that use this approach must not be working either... I guess
the software I released last month is a figment of my imagination!
What about the problem reported by Paul Vixie with 7-bit ULTRIX (I
think) mailers falling over when receiving an 8-bit data line of only
AE ("registered trademark") which when stripped to 7-bits looks like
2E ("period")?
This problem cannot occur with AUC. The AUC representation of AE and
(other 8859/1 G1 codes) is 2 octets. 8859/1 AE is represented A0 AE.
How lovely for AUC. Care to deal with all the users and applications that
don't use AUC and don't even know what it is?
What does AUC look like with the high bit stripped? Does it look nice?
What about applications that might fall over when receiving a mail
message that contained unexpected 8-bit data?
While I realize that this can and has occurred, most places have
treated it as a lack of network robustness on the part of the
applications. We concur.
On the contrary -- you can view it as a lack of robustness that various
SMTP server implementations allow you to get away with sending 8-bit. Failing
8-bit messages as being nonstandard is the robust case.
Suppose my mailer and/or my applications are not supported and
can't be upgraded? (Yes, this issue has been raised.)
I'm sorry, it you run unsupported software, you always face this
problem. However, if you run supported software, you may already
have an 8-bit clean SMTP or UUCP on your system. Most vendors/
providers are already shipping them.
What total nonsense. The standards permit me, a vendor of SMTP software to
ship an SMTP server that response to 8-bit material by doing anything,
repeat ANTHING, it damn well pleases, since the act of sending 8-bit is
PROHIBITED. Just because I choose to take one particular action is no reason
that somebody else might see it differently and choose to act differently.
This has nothing, repeat NOTHING, to do with support of software.
Ned