Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!ucivax!gateway
From: Christian.Huitema@mirsa.inria.fr (Christian Huitema)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.x400
Subject: Re: Sending mail from internet to x400 networks
Message-ID: <9101280839.AA13650@jerry.inria.fr>
Date: 28 Jan 91 08:47:12 GMT
Lines: 16
Approved: usenet@ICS.UCI.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of 25 Jan 91 10:05:25 -0800.
             <23236.664826725@nma>

Stef, Maria,

You should not forget the original reason for the insistance on ADMD and
PRMD in the RARE notation, i.e. lobbying by the authors of RFC-987 so that
exactly the same abbreviations are used in 987 and RARE short-hand format.
This is only remotely related to clarity; in fact, if one was consistant,
one should either ban all single letter abbreviations, including "C", "O",
"S" and "G", or allow also a single letter abbreviation for "A" and "P".
Moreover, the "clarity" of the codes "ADMD" and "PRMD" is far from obvious.
It is most clear for users which are very familiar with the standard; it is
just a syntactic token for the plain users.

Christian Huitema
PS.
Our RFC-987 code is already geared to swallow both "/ADMD=" and "/A="
notations, under the general "be generous with what you accept" rule...