ietf-smtp
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [ietf-smtp] Stray <LF> in the middle of messages

2020-06-10 08:33:10
On 6/8/2020 7:03 AM, Hector Santos wrote:
The Internet Mail format officially starting with RFC 822 selected the DOS/Windows format <CR><LF> format.

Why?


Any interesting computer network seeks interoperability among heterogeneous systems. All sorts of differences need to be dealt with, including differences in the end-of-line construct.

The simplest and most scalable way to accomodate such differences is to define a /single/ standard and require each system to between their local convention and the network's canonical convention.

This approach was as the core or the early Arpanet protocols, including FTP as already noted in this thread. That's from the early 1970s timeframe.

RFC 822's predecessor, RFC 733, was 1977. SMTP was 1982. They merely continued the convention.

Telnet and FTP chose CRLF as the end of line construct.


d/
--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net

_______________________________________________
ietf-smtp mailing list
ietf-smtp(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org
https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf-smtp