ietf-mta-filters
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variables extension redux

2004-07-31 10:23:22

On fre, 2004-07-30 at 16:31 +0100, Alexey Melnikov wrote:
If this helps to get Sieve variables published (I am being selfish here, 
of course :-)), than I agree.

I'm sorry, but I've lost track.  what should be done about it?  there
are some open issues in it, but they don't seem very hard problems,
really.  I apologise if I have left out criticisms, it is not
intentional, my memory isn't so good.

=== excerpt ===
0.3.  Open Issues

b)   this extension is particularily useful if fileinto creates new
     folders on demand.  [SIEVE] doesn't prohibit this, and currently
     some implementations will create new folders automatically, others
     won't.

[out of scope, an explicit :createfolder for fileinto should be a
separate extension.  this can be closed.]

d)   the EDITHEADER draft includes an action that needs the unexpanded
     string to be passed to the procedure, since the action first per-
     forms matching which may influence numeric variable references in
     the argument.  this is can be seen as a layering violation, and the
     variable draft should state explicitly whether such extensions are
     possible.

e)   the numeric variables are causing many headaches since they may
     change spontaneously when running tests or even _during_ actions.
     an alternative approach is SETMATCH ["var1", "var2", "var3"] which
     stores the first three match components into the listed variables.
     (an empty string as a variable name means skip storing that match.)
     this approach makes REPLACEHEADER less powerful.

[this is a big change to the draft, but I think it makes the semantics
clearer and reduces the chances of pitfalls.  the REPLACEHEADER magic
was too magic, IMHO (it was removed from the draft anyway, but someone
else may want something similar in the future)]

     a related question is what happens when a match fails.  the draft
     currently says that the numeric variables are reset, but this may
     be inconvenient.

[this is irrelevant if we use SETMATCH]
=== ends ===

I can submit a "new" draft to refresh the expiry in a couple of days,
but if we can get these issues resolved first, that would be great.

-- 
Kjetil T.