Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!spdcc!merk!alliant!linus!think!barmar From: barmar@think.com (Barry Margolin) Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc Subject: Re: configurable delimiters needed in aliases file for x.400 addresses Message-ID: <40713@think.Think.COM> Date: 17 Jul 90 04:25:50 GMT References: <1585@merlin.bhpmrl.oz.au> Sender: news@Think.COM Organization: Thinking Machines Corporation, Cambridge MA, USA Lines: 32 In article peter@ficc.ferranti.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <1585@merlin.bhpmrl.oz.au> ianh@bhpmrl.oz.au (Ian Hoyle) writes: >> bhp = bhp keylink = /C=AU/ADMD=TELEMEMO/O=BHP/G=BHP/S=MELBOURNE/@murtoa >THAT's what the famous X.400 addresses look like? Not really. Since X.400 is a binary, not character, protocol, its addresses are binary data structures. An X.400 address is a property list, containing attributes such as geographic location, full name, and company name (i.e. the same kinds of things one uses to address postal mail), as well as computer-oriented attributes such as the names of the network and computer. That gibberish is a compact textual representation of X.400, suitable for storage in textual databases such as the Unix aliases file, or for use when encapsulating X.400 mail in a textual mail environment such as SMTP/RFC822. The days are long gone when we should expect ordinary users to type "addresses" into their mail system user interfaces. The actual form that the user sees will depend on their mail system and its general user interaction style. A simple interface would display "Country:", "Last name:", "Computer name:", etc. prompts (with suitable defaults, of course). On a windowed system the attributes to be filled in would be chosen out of a menu or the user might fill in a dialogue. The important attribute of these interfaces is that the attribute names would be displayed in a natural language, not some computer abbreviation; e.g., what's represented as "C=AU" above would be displayed or entered as "Country: Australia". -- Barry Margolin, Thinking Machines Corp. barmar@think.com {uunet,harvard}!think!barmar