required to be encoded in MIME. [1] [2] Several SMTP implementations
+++++++++++++
Actually "MIME" is what is described in [1] only.
Technically MIME is a single standard defined in two documents. The
Header extensions are logically part of the same protocol.
That's good news. If you read the abstract and introduction
of RFC 1342 you get the clear impression that it is only an
optional extension to RFC 1341, however.
I see no real need for such a decoupling. If some mail software
is advertized to support MIME the customer should be justified
to assume that it supports both 1341 and 1342.
To clarify the situation maybe the titles of the two documents
should be changed to:
1341: MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
Part 1: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing
the Format of Internet Message Bodies
1342: MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions)
Part 2: Representation of Non-ASCII Text in
Internet Message Headers
At present RFC 1342 refers explicitly to RFC 1341. If these
two documents are adopted as Internet standards at the same
time it should be possible to include a reference in RFC 1341
to RFC 1342. That would make it possible to extend this part
of RFC 1341
: MIME-Version: 1.0
:
: The presence of this header field is an assertion that the
: message has been composed in compliance with this document.
to also state that header fields of a message and of any body
parts are to be interpreted according to RFC 1342.
By the way, what is the current status of the MIME documents
and the time scedule for their standardization? Is it still
possible to suggest small additions to the functionality?
(In that case I have a suggestion for the representation of
line breaks in RFC 1342.)
--
Olle Jarnefors, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
<ojarnef(_at_)admin(_dot_)kth(_dot_)se>