ietf-822
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Re: RFC 1342 bugs & suggested fixes

1993-02-25 14:06:14

8.  Problem:  RFC 1342 allows for "B" and "Q" encoding, but does not allow
   for the "null" encoding that corresponds to RFC 1341's "7bit".

   Suggested fix:  Add a new one called "7".

This is reasonable.  The rational for not including 7bit, 8bit, and
binary was because only 7 bits are permitted in RFC 822 headers.
Overlooking the fact that non-ascii character sets can be 7 bits was an
error that should be corrected.  

RFC 1341 is a bit vague on what 7bit means and says " '7bit'  means
that the data is all represented as short lines of US-ASCII data."  We
understand that this is not to constrain the content of something
listed as 7bit to US ASCII but to restrict the octets to those which
have US-ASCII mappings.  This is a bit formalistic but it may matter to
people who against the advise of their doctors include national 646
varient sets in the headers.

Thanks.

Greg V.