- From: Roy T. Fielding <fielding@avron.ICS.UCI.EDU>
- Date: Tue, 20 Feb 1996 10:03:03 -0800
- To: Owen Rees <rtor@ansa.co.uk>
- Cc: Peter J Churchyard <pjc@trusted.com>, http-wg%cuckoo.hpl.hp.com@hplb.hpl.hp.com
> The dot transparency protocol is an essential part of SMTP, as defined
> in RFC821, it has not been 'dumped' and headers, MIME or otherwise, do
> not replace it. On the contrary, RFC1123 emphasises this point very
> explicitly in section 5.2.11 "Implementors MUST be sure that their mail
> systems always add and delete periods to ensure message transparency."
> The emphasis is probably because getting it right is a configurable
> option if you use sendmail.
Actually, the emphasis is because they couldn't replace existing
gateways and other systems, even though the local system may be capable
of a better transport mechanism. SMTP is stuck with it. There is no
need for HTTP to repeat that mistake.
...Roy T. Fielding
Department of Information & Computer Science (fielding@ics.uci.edu)
University of California, Irvine, CA 92717-3425 fax:+1(714)824-4056
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/
Received on Tuesday, 20 February 1996 10:17:44 UTC