--On 2 March 2011 13:11:36 +0100 Jan Ingvoldstad <frettled@???> wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 12:21, David Woodhouse <dwmw2@???> wrote:
>> On Tue, 2011-03-01 at 19:13 +0000, Always Learning wrote:
>>>
>>> I thought the only RFC required header was Message-ID: ?
>>
>> That's only a SHOULD.
>
> When I was young, a "SHOULD" wasn't only an "only", it was a pretty
> big deal, it was a MUST with some opportunity for leniency. :)
I'm with you on this. It's worth occasionally re-reading
<
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119> to remind oneself that "SHOULD" or
"RECOMMENDED" "mean that there
may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore a
particular item, but the full implications must be understood and
carefully weighed before choosing a different course."
In the case of email, the full implications are that your email may not be
delivered when it's destined for a site that you don't control. If you're
ignoring a "SHOULD" for all your outbound email, then we're not talking
about "particular circumstances", we're talking about the general case.
In this case, you might not want to bother with a Message-ID if all your
outbound mail is handled by a third party who you know will add one.
> --
> Jan
--
Ian Eiloart
IT Services, University of Sussex
01273-873148 x3148
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