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Re: showstopper on RFC-MIME

1992-03-27 12:47:08
Keld, Ted and EUnet

Thanks for your input on MIME.  I agree with the importance of having
the means of using a character set that allows one to correctly
communicate in one's own language.   MNEMONIC looks like it can solve a
lot of the problems in this area.

The problem that the IESG has with MNEMONIC at this point is not
tehcnical, but policy.  Any reference to another standards document
must to to a stable, citable document,  whether that reference it to
another Internet Standard or a standard from some other standards
body.  This same policy is also why references to Internet Drafts are
not allowed in Internet Standards. The reason for this policy is so
that at any time after a standard is published, an implementor can
easily find all documents that make up all parts of the specification
of the standard.

The Working Group as requested only MIME and Message Headers be
advanced to Proposed Standard. Thus, at this time a citable document
for MNEMONIC does not exist and can not be referenced by MIME. This is
true of several other character sets referenced in the version of the
MIME document that was first send to the IESG. References to these
character set have also been removed due to that lack of a citable
reference.

It has been recognized that definition of body-parts for MIME will be
an on-going process that will continue for some time. MIME was designed
with this in mind and the document defines the framework for the
definition and use of these body-parts.  Indeed, MIME could have been
written without any defined body-parts included in the document and all
body-parts be defined as separate documents.  However, understanding of
the protocol is much easier when examples of some body-parts are
included in the base document.  Therefore, those body-parts that  have
stable, citable documents were included.  The body-parts that have been
included in the MIME definition documents have no greater significance
than those that will be added later.  Actually, like all things in the
Internet, the real significance of any MIME body-part will be
determined by the users.

I hope to see MNEMONIC and several other documents defining MIME
body-parts being officially documented and registered with the IANA
in the very near future.

Russ

Russ Hobby                              INTERNET: 
rdhobby(_at_)ucdavis(_dot_)edu  
IETF Area Director - Applications       BITNET:   RDHOBBY(_at_)UCDAVIS  
                                        UUCP:  ...!ucbvax!ucdavis!rdhobby 


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