ietf-822
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Re: Tightening RFC 2822 msg-IDs

2003-02-24 14:00:01

On Sun, 23 Feb 2003, Lawrence Greenfield wrote:
   ...what would ietf-822 folks think about
   tightening the legal-to-generate Message-ID definition when RFC 2822
   moves to draft standard? ...

I believe having a Usenet format document that updates RFC 2822 on the
standards track would be a very good thing, especially if all of the
changes are like messageid: of the form of moving more syntax into the
obsolete section and further restricting what is generated.

Note that it is unlikely that a news standard can be phrased entirely in
such terms, if only because it must address news processing as well as
format (the title of the current Usefor WG draft is a bit misleading, as
examination of the content will show). 

And some of the restrictions that will be necessary for compatibility with
the news installed base are probably unacceptable on the mail side.  (This
is one reason why a general mail-to-news gateway is non-trivial software.)

That said, it would certainly be good to at least *reduce* the format
differences, if it can be done without serious installed-base impact on
either side.  We news folks could certainly supply a wishlist of format
restrictions.  Tightening up message-ID syntax is a big one, given how
crucial message IDs are to news handling, processing, display, etc., and
given that restrictions on them are already embedded in both our software
and our protocols. 

                                                          Henry Spencer
                                                       
henry(_at_)spsystems(_dot_)net



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