And as long as we're doing this, it would be a good idea to define a
solid mailbox format that can be used to share access to messages by
different applications.
I don't think that's practical:
1. platform differences affecting file sizes, ability to control
access,
ability to lock portions of a file for update, etc., not to mention
record-oriented systems (e.g. Bitnet),
So? We're not saying "you're not allowed to use any other format than
this", just "if you want to interoperate with other implementations,
this is the format you should use for that".
I think SHOULD standards SHOULD be refrained from as much as
possible, these items have in the past generated incompatibilities. I think
a guideline for mailbox formats could be a seperate project from the
communication.
Other than that, I think the problems stated about platform differences
etc. are all solvable and not a reason not to attack the problem. They
have already been solved in various standards. No need to reinvent
that part in mail-ng.
differences in line endings, bit- and byte-ordering, etc. ad infinitum
This stuff should be kept in the format set by the sender.
Not necessarily. The storeage of data should be stored in whatever
format is convenient, but presentation should use original formatting.
IETF doesn't generally define storage formats, rather formats used for
network transfer.
It seems rather silly to build a store-and-forward messaging system and
then only standardize the "forward" part and not the "store" part.
The store in store-and-forward is about queueing. Not mailbox storing.
Rgds,
-GSH