Re: NEW MIME DRAFT

Marshall -- No problem with most of what you say.  The one obvious oddity,
which yuo spotted right off, is mail-server:

> Excerpts
> from mail: 30-Dec-91 Re: NEW MIME DRAFT Marshall Rose(_at_)dbc(_dot_)mtview (638)


> 1. I'm not like the new syntax for the mailserver
> access-type.  Why can't
> you make it another parameter,
> like "command=" or something.  Do you
> really expect
> this to be a multi-line thing?

The problem, as Greg has
pointed out, is that these are often long, multi-line commands.  So we could
indeed have such a syntax, but it would have to be able to quote newlines and
be very long and horrible.  Some possibilities -- instead of :

<example>Content-Type: message/external-body; 
	name="listserv"; 
site="bogus.bitnet"; 
	access-type = mail-server;
expiration="Fri, 14 Jun 1991 19:13:14 -0400 (EDT)"

Content-type:
application/postscript

SEND-FILE: /u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-XXXX.txt
SEND-FILE: /u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-XXXX.ps
</example>
We might have

<example>Content-Type: message/external-body; 
	name="listserv";
	site="bogus.bitnet"; 
	access-type = mail-server;
expiration="Fri, 14 Jun 1991 19:13:14 -0400 (EDT)"
	command="SEND-FILE:
/u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-XXXX.ps\n"
	SEND-FILE:
/u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-XXXX.txt"

Content-type: application/postscript
</example>
which is of dubious legality and would require some fiddling
with the BNF in order to permit the parameter value to be split into two or
more quoted strings.  Alternately, we might try:

<example>Content-Type:
message/external-body; 
	name="listserv"; 
	site="bogus.bitnet";
	access-type = mail-server;
	expiration="Fri, 14 Jun 1991 19:13:14
-0400 (EDT)";
	command-1="SEND-FILE: /u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-XXXX.ps"
command-2="SEND-FILE: /u/nsb/writing/rfcs/RFC-XXXX.txt"

Content-type:
application/postscript

</example>which is awfully open-ended in the
number & naming of parameters.  I believe that this problem was Greg's biggest
objection to external-body, which is why I attempted this somewhat ungraceful
solution.  I'm certainly open to any better ideas!  -- Nathaniel