On Tue, 10 Apr 2007, John C Klensin wrote:
(iii) Prohibit different codes and, optionally, suggest
that it is ok for a client to select one of them and
assume that all of the others are the same.
I suggest replacing:
The format for multiline replies requires that every line, except the
last, begin with the reply code, followed immediately by a hyphen,
"-" (also known as minus), followed by text. The last line will
begin with the reply code, followed immediately by <SP>, optionally
some text, and <CRLF>.
with (inserting "same" in appropriate places):
The format for multiline replies requires that every line, except the
last, begin with the same reply code, followed immediately by a hyphen,
"-" (also known as minus), followed by text. The last line will
begin with the same reply code, followed immediately by <SP>, optionally
some text, and <CRLF>.
The following text is really bad advice and causes us a lot of support
problems because clients discard parts of error messages and lie to
their users.
In many cases the SMTP client then simply needs to search for a line
beginning with the reply code followed by <SP> or <CRLF> and ignore
all preceding lines. In a few cases, there is important data for the
client in the reply "text". The client will be able to identify
these cases from the current context.
I suggest replacing it with:
In many cases the SMTP client then simply needs to search for a line
beginning with the reply code followed by <SP> or <CRLF>, accumulating
the text appearing on the preceding lines. The client MAY assume that
the server has used the same reply code on each line, and therefore MAY
act on whichever line's code is convenient.
I believe the second sentence describes what running code actually does.
Good implementations do what the first sentence describes.
Tony.
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