Re: Date in mail headers
Hi,
>>"Orn" == Orn E Hansen <oe.hansen@oehansen.pp.se> writes:
Orn> On 04-Sep-97 Manoj Srivastava wrote:
>> The RFC???? are all the rules that actually apply to the
>> internet. And if we all start ignoring the rules, the cooperative
>> process that is the internet (and, indeed, Linux itself is the
>> product of a similar cooperative process).
Orn> The RFC are Request For Comments, and not rules. And to be
Orn> perfectly sincere, there are only limited amount guidence taken
Orn> from them in the corporate world. Maybe because they never fully
Orn> address the need of the Internet :-)
I know what letters stand for. I think you have no idea what
the RFC's mean as far as the network is concerned, sorry. Also, I
think you are wrong about "limited amount of guidance", unless, of
course, you are talking about microsoft, which has a track record of
ignoring standards.
In a sense you are correct, there are *no* rules on the
internet; it is just a set of cooperative servers and people. We all
choose to adhere to the internet standards called the RFC's. You may
choose to ignore the standards, in which case you startbreaking the
co-operation. Chances are, unless you get a whole lot of people to
conform to your practice, the anomaly will not cause any change in
the default behaviour for most software; and if the change gets to be
radical enough to break current software, it is likely that the
messages will get silently tossed (not that a malformed date header
is likely to cause that).
Orn> There is no Debate... the question rose as somebody complained
Orn> about his server software breaking on my mail... and I guessed it
Orn> was because of my Date field being a quoted printable inside a
Orn> header field. This is a standard, period.
Indeed?
Orn> However, I did start my mail client in the "C" locale, that
Orn> ensures that the Date was written in "C" locale... but I was
Orn> still "kicked" out of the list for it... so, I don't think the
Orn> problem has anything to do with my 'Date' field, do you? :-) So,
Orn> I'll just have it the way I see fit ;-)
You can of course set your mail any way you want to. It may
not get very far, or delivered, but you can send it out any which way
you please.
Orn> There are still some 7-bit servers out there (and minds
Orn> ;-)... I'm not going to, neither now nor in future to comply in
Orn> making my software 7-bits just for those servers, they'll just
Orn> have to break, until the administrators find it with in their
Orn> time to comply to evolution. These servers are out-dated by 50
Orn> years. :-)
Or people just ignore what you say, cause they did not see
them. You have every right to restrict distribution of your
message. There is a tenet of software module design, that says "Be
very precise in what you output, and be very permissive in what you
accept" (my phraseology). Your statement violates that. Personally, I
have found it less trouble in the long run to code defensively. I do
remember when I was not as careful, though.
I have said all I wnat to say about this topic.
manoj
--
"The sixties were good to you, weren't they?" George Carlin
Manoj Srivastava <url:mailto:srivasta@acm.org>
Mobile, Alabama USA <url:http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/>
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