I like this idea. I've been thinking that it would be useful to have
some response code that says "Here's the basic status of the response -
check the extended errors if you care about more." It might even be
useful to define 2x9, 3x9, 4x9, and 5x9 responses which give the more
informative category of response but then refer to the extended codes.
This would provide more detailed information to software which looks at
the second digit, as '9' is not a legitimate category under the SMTP
theory of reply codes.
John - would this be appropriate to include in your 821bis draft, or is
it out of scope? If it can't go into 821bis, what would be the best way
to proceed?
-- jeff
-----Original Message-----
From: John C Klensin [SMTP:klensin(_at_)mci(_dot_)net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 1997 3:44 AM
To: Paul E. Hoffman
Cc: ietf-smtp(_at_)imc(_dot_)org
Subject: Re: New SMTP response codes
There is a case to be made for trying the following
strategy:
* Make up one more set of codes, e.g.,
299, 399, 499, 599
And give them the definition "extended code of
status/severity (2, 3, 4, 5), see extended reply
code" and a phrase syntax of "n.n.n text".
* Make absolutely sure that the definitions and extension
mechanisms of RFC 1893 are adequate.
--john