In <ilu7l32l8i3(_dot_)fsf(_at_)barbar(_dot_)josefsson(_dot_)org> Simon
Josefsson <sj(_at_)extundo(_dot_)com> writes:
chl(_at_)clw(_dot_)cs(_dot_)man(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk (Charles Lindsey) writes:
What I am after is the regularisation of the present practice whereby
software attempts to recognise URLs when it finds them in the midst of
text/plain (usually by recognising anything starting with "www." or
enclosed in <...>).
Isn't the text in an appendix of RFC1738 (which I quoted earlier in
this thread) sufficient to solve this problem?
BTW, one should be speaking of RFC 2396, which has superseded RFC 1738.
But in fact it contains the same text on this matter.
Yes, but that text is a sort of "if you are going to do it, then do it
like this", but it is not clear whether that was intended as advice to
those about to write RFCs for extra features, or whether it was intended
for implementors of existing facilities (like text/plain). I have tried to
follow that text when constructing my examples, and so I wrote
<url:Q1>
which is syntactically fine ("Q1" is a valid relativeURL according to
RFC1808, and its use in that sort of context is sanctioned by RFC 2110.
Nevertheless, at least one system that has been reported to me tried to
interpret it as <url:http:Q1> (but at least it was the only system so far
that is reported as having recognised it as a URL at all). One of the
oddities of RFC 2110 is that it defines a nice new usage, but does not
provide a "scheme name" for it.
So the question arises as to whether that sort of thing can reasonably be
done as part of "current best practice" - i.e. we just have to persuade
implementors to do it. Or whether it needs an RFC (best practice,
experimental protocol, proposed standard?) perhaps with some extra syntax
like the format=url parameter for text/plain that I suggested (not that I
am suggesting that exact syntax).
It was to hear opinions as to the necessity or otherwise of such an RFC
that I came to this list. So more opinions, please!
Recommending mail client implementators to support it inside
text/plain parts would reach the same goal as defining a "format=url"
flag, without the hassle of introducing a new flag. If mail client
implementators wouldn't implement the recommendation, they probably
wouldn't implement a "format=url" flag either.
--
Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Email: chl(_at_)clw(_dot_)cs(_dot_)man(_dot_)ac(_dot_)uk Web:
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