On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 09:07:07 PDT, Dave Crocker said:
KM> The current definition of this extension makes it essentially useless
KM> when attempting to send mail to any recipient that is not known in
KM> advance to support CONPERM/CONNEG.
That's right. Much like the long-standing problem of sending a MIME
attachment for a vcard, if you do not already know that they support
vcard. Or for sending any MIME type, if you do not already know it is
supported.
So, really, you are focusing on the general problem of knowing whether
the SMTP relay chain supports particular SMTP options. That is a
laudable goal, but it is not one we are trying to solve.
I think Keith's point is that failing to solve that goal results in brain
damage.
It's interesting you use the 'vcard' example - I have actually had a *lot* of
problems with sites that will *BOUNCE* mail if they detect a PGP signature,
due to broken implementations that think all 'application/*' are viruses.
Keith is saying "It's broken on the 822 level, let's not do it on the 821 level
too".
Right now, Internet mail does not permit conversions to be done anywhere
in the relay chain. I suggest we try to support the simple scenario --
which has already turned out to be far more complex than we first
thought necessary -- before trying to solve the general case, especially
since we have no demonstrated need for it.
The fact it's a lot more complicated for the simple case should give you
pause....
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