To: ietf-822(_at_)dimacs(_dot_)rutgers(_dot_)edu
Subject: Re: SNPP - A Clarification
Date: Mon, 6 Sep 1993 12:27:34 -0500 (CDT)
Re: immediate status reporting of SMTP.
An SMTP server *can* report a failure after the DATA command, but only for
the entire envelope -- not on a per-recipient basis. If the message is
short, and there is only one recipient, it doesn't really matter that much
whether the recipient is declared invalid immediately after RCPT or after
the DATA command.
So for single recipient pages, an SMTP server could probably deliver the
message immediately and report the status after the DATA command. Only for
multiple recipients (with some successful deliveries and some failures),
would the SMTP server have to mail back replies.
None of this requires modifications to SMTP. Modifications to SMTP might
still be useful to handle things like "deliver within ### seconds else
fail", but aren't required for basic pager support.
Keith Moore