Charles Lindsey wrote:
Therefore, it is reasonable to proceed on the basis that existing gateways
will either drop non-conforming input on the floor, or they will pass it
on in a form that will be obviously "wrong" (i.e. will appear as
gobbledegook) wherever it is viewed.
The question is whether that situation is acceptable in a transitional
phase,
You're talking about gateways to email -- what "transitional phase" -- what
are you assuming will change in the email protocols?
> and my argument is that it is acceptable insofar as it only arises
where the new functionality has been used, that the buildup of the new
functionality will be slow,
What new functionality? Oh right, there isn't any.
> that it can be tolerated to a degree in some
environments, and that where it cannot be tolerated the gateways can be
upgraded before the scale of the problem becomes serious.
The issue is not confined to gateways; the current Usefor draft has
serious implications for user agents, vaious bits of news-specific
software, and gateways. Worse, the Usefor draft's proposed scheme is
completely unworkable w.r.t. gateways, so there is absolutely no way
that those "gateways can be upgraded" -- there is no magic.