Re: Is it reasonable?

[Nathaniel Borenstein <nsb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Excerpts from internet.ietf-smtp: 22-Mar-91 Is it reasonable? Andr'e
PIRARD@vm1.ulg.ac (3428)

> I've just been confirmed that SunOS 4.1 does implement 8-bit mail with
> ISO 8859-1 (those fonts are in the system). Gracefully. End of quote.

"Gracefully" is in the eye of the beholder.  Mail from these systems
that goes to an old 7 bit system can cause serious problems, and it is
the 8-bit systems that are non-conformant to the specs.  It does not
appear "graceful" to one whose totally conformant mailer is having
trouble coping with the illegal 8 bit mail generated by the "graceful"
mailer.

> Am I wrong thinking that most Internet mail is end to end, that the only
> MTAs requiring a trivial fix are Internet *relays* (as opposed to end ones),
> that gateways to other transport protocols is just half SMTP's matter but also
> half SMTP's courtesy?

Yes, you are completely wrong on this score.  Look at the Received
headers on your mail for some indication of how many hops your mail
makes.

> I'll be able to 8mail across the lawn to the aforementioned Suns in some time.
> Will they have to be convinced too that the only working thing is a bug?

The key word is not "bug" but "non-compliant."  The "only working thing"
breaks other people's mailers, and is therefore anti-social.  Certainly
the Sun representatives in St. Louis recognized that just transmitting 8
bits is far from an ideal solution, and were very constructive in their
attempts to help us all find common ground.  I don't think they have to
be "convinced" that their current situation is not ideal!


> I mean neither side, but here, 7 bit restrictions are spoken of with a wink.
> Let's concentrate on finding how 8-bit traffic cannot intrude no-thanks
> systems and let the migration be progressive in the right direction.
> The simpler the better. The best machines are those with the fewer parts.

I agree in principle -- in fact, I advocated a transitional ("wretched")
system before St. Louis.  The discussions there, however, convinced me
that the transition is far too complex to be worthwhile.