Subject: I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-drums-msg-fmt-07.txt

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 10:57:40 -0500

A New Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories.
This draft is a work item of the Detailed Revision/Update of Message Standards 
Working Group of the IETF.

	Title		: Internet Message Format Standard
	Author(s)	: P. Resnick
	Filename	: draft-ietf-drums-msg-fmt-07.txt
	Pages		: 31
	Date		: 11-Jan-99
	
This standard specifies a syntax for text messages that are sent between
computer users, within the framework of 'electronic mail' messages. This
standard supersedes the one specified in Request For Comments 822,
'Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages' [RFC-822],
updating it to reflect current practice and incorporating incremental
changes that were specified in other RFCs [STD-3].
 
This standard specifies a syntax only for text messages. In particular,
it makes no provision for the transmission of images, audio, or other
sorts of structured data in electronic mail messages. There are several
extensions published, such as the MIME document series [RFC-2045, RFC-
2046, RFC-2049], which describe mechanisms for the transmission of such
data through electronic mail, either by extending the syntax provided
here or by structuring such messages to conform to this syntax. Those
mechanisms are outside of the scope of this standard.
 
In the context of electronic mail, messages are viewed as having an
envelope and contents. The envelope contains whatever information is
needed to accomplish transmission and delivery. (See [SMTP] for a
discussion of the envelope.) The contents comprise the object to be
delivered to the recipient. This standard applies only to the format and
some of the semantics of message contents. It contains no specification
of the information in the envelope.
 
However, some message systems may use information from the contents to
create the envelope. It is intended that this standard facilitate the
acquisition of such information by programs.
 
Some message systems may store messages in formats that differ from the
one specified in this standard. This specification is intended strictly
as a definition of what message content format is to be passed between
hosts.
 
Note: This standard is not intended to dictate the internal formats used
by sites, the specific message system features that they are expected to
support, or any of the characteristics of user interface programs that
create or read messages. In addition, this standard does not specify an
encoding of the characters for either transport or storage; that is, it
does not specify the number of bits used or how those bits are
specifically transferred over the wire or stored on disk.

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