Hi, I hope you (and they!) don’t mind me CCing two other people who have
worked extensively on Python’s email library, and in fact much more than
myself in the recent years. RDM has done the bulk of the work on the
new-in-Python-3 APIs, and Mark is a long time core developer on GNU Mailman
(the project that spawned Python’s email library).
There are two ways I think about this, and I’ll use the original RFC
numbers to clarify. There’s RFC 821, which describes the on-the-wire
protocol for SMTP transfers, embodied in Python’s smtplib library.. Then
there’s RFC 822, which describes the format of the content of that SMTP
transfer, but not the protocol itself. Of course there are lots of
developments along the way, but that’s unimportant for the way I think
about these things.
What I think you are describing, where the headers are part of the
payload, is more akin to RFC 821. That’s the payload as far as the actual
bytes-on-the-wire are concerned. Python’s email library is for RFC 822
(and the many, many elaborations thereof), so in that case, the payload is
the body of the message. On more practical terms, the implementation makes
this clear, and the APIs you use to change headers are different in form
and function than the ones you use to change the body of the message.
I think the Python documentation is fairly clear about this distinction.
At least, I don’t remember seeing any feedback to the contrary, although
RDM may have a better sense of that. Of course, we are always open to
improvements in Python’s documentation.
Cheers,
-Barry
On Mar 31, 2019, at 10:57, Viruthagiri Thirumavalavan
<giri(_at_)dombox(_dot_)org>
wrote:
Hello IETF,
I need some clarification about the term "email payload".
Wikipedia says
In computing and telecommunications, the payload is the part of
transmitted data that is the actual intended message. Headers and metadata
are sent only to enable payload delivery
Python email library documentation says this.
An email message consists of headers and a payload (which is also
referred to as the content). Headers are RFC 5322 or RFC 6532 style field
names and values, where the field name and value are separated by a colon..
The colon is not part of either the field name or the field value. The
payload may be a simple text message, or a binary object, or a structured
sequence of sub-messages each with their own set of headers and their own
payload. The latter type of payload is indicated by the message having a
MIME type such as multipart/* or message/rfc822.
It looks like Python email library author "Barry Warsaw" followed
similar definition found in wikipedia when defining his library functions..
But I feel like calling ONLY the email "Body Part" as "payload" is wrong.
The term "payload" should refer to the entire "Message Part" in Email. i.e.
Both Headers and Body.
When you place an order for a "box of beer", you are not paying only for
the "beer cans", but also paying for the "container box". So the payload
here is the entire box.
HTTP Example:
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 23:26:07 GMT
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 1234
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello World!</title>
</head>
<body>
(more contents)
.
.
.
</body>
</html>
If you take a closer look at this HTTP example, the headers are only
just instructions for the client. The end user doesn't need to worry about
any piece of information found in those headers. So wikipedia definition
perfectly suited for applications like HTTP.
But in Email, When a mail get transferred from Hop A to Hop C via Hop B,
the user in Hop A actually wants to deliver the whole "message part" to Hop
C. If Hop B, strips the headers and transfer only the "Body" part, then it
becomes an "Anonymous" message. So the end user requires the information
found in the "Headers" too. e.g. From, Subject, Date etc. [In HTTP, title
tag is equivalent to Subject and it's found in the "head" Markup, not in
the HTTP Headers]
As you can see, the user is interested in the "entire message". So the
term "actual intended message" should refer to the "whole message"
extracted from the DATA command. The "actual intended message" should be
pictured like this in email.
Also note that, when you migrate your mails to another mail service, you
need the whole message with Headers, not just the body.
Based on my points, I believe calling only the "Body" part as "Payload"
is wrong. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. If Barry Warsaw is
here, would love to know your opinion too.
PS: I did actually ask this question 2 years back in a stackexchange
website. I wasn't satisfied with the answer I got there. I don't want to
use the term incorrectly in my application. That's why I'm posting it here.
Thanks
--
Best Regards,
Viruthagiri Thirumavalavan
Dombox, Inc.