Re: Why is From: limited?

At 10:15 PM 3/23/95, Roman Czyborra wrote:
>> >1. Why is From: only a request header?  It would be nice to provide
>> >   the address of the file owner so you know where to send comments
>> >   if the author forgot to add a <LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:...">
>>
>> Sure, it'd be nice. It's probably impossible to implement in an efficient
>> fashion on most servers today.
>
>No, not at all.  On Unix, every file already has an owner, and I could
>hack my httpd in no time to construct an email address from it.

In real life the Unix UID that "owns" a document may have nothing to do
with the author,  for example on a CWIS where everything is posted by a few
people.

There are already HTML solutions in wide use for indicating/contacting the
author of HTML docs, including <LINK REV="made" HREF="mailto:..."> and
mailto: HREFs in the body of the document. It's not worth messing with the
HTTP protocol to add another, IMHO.

---
    Albert Lunde                      Albert-Lunde@nwu.edu