ietf-822
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: quoted-pair in dcontent / Space after colon (Was: New 2822upd-04 - obs-NO-WS-CTL)

2008-01-23 14:52:00

Pete Resnick wrote:

I'm separating out these two issues, as I want to hear yeas and nays (and explanations) from people other than Charles and Frank.
...

So, there are two forms to this request:

1. Remove quoted-pair entirely from dcontent in the generate syntax (meaning "[", "]", and "\" may never appear in dcontent).
> 2. Only allow the quoted-pairs "\[", "\]", and "\\" in dcontent in the
> generate syntax.
>
> Of course, quoted-pair would be in the obs- (interpret) syntax.

+1 for #1. I agree with removing these from the generate syntax. I see no need for us to ever generate them in a domain address literal.

[On space after the ":"...]

[Charles originally wanted:]
Although in all header fields the CFWS following the colon is optional, it is customary to place at least one SP there; moreover such a SP is mandatory in some related protocols (notably [NETNEWS]). In order to facilitate interoperability with such related protocols, that SP SHOULD normally be present.

[Frank suggested:]
Although all message header fields allow either [FWS] or [CFWS] after the colon, it is customary to place at least one white space character after the colon. In NetNews articles [RFC xxxx] it's mandatory to use a space character after the colon, and in order to faciliate interoperability implementors might wish to separate the header field name plus colon from the header field body by a space in all Internet messages.

But if we can agree that a wording of some form along the lines of what I and Frank are suggesting, then the exact wording can be worked on by further discussion. As I said, either wording is netter than nothing.

My personal feeling on this is again it is not necessary, and that a gateway should be dealing with this anyway. But if people want text, I would be OK with a non-normative note in either 2.2 or 3.6. (Anything with a SHOULD I will make a stink over.) As editor, I'd want specific text agreed to and instructions on where to put it.

-1

Requiring a SP character after the : is a non-starter for me. I've used a number of systems that use TAB instead of SP; they're still out there and should not be considered invalid.

        Tony Hansen
        tony(_at_)att(_dot_)com

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>