Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!world!geoff
From: geoff@world.std.com (Geoff Collyer)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: warning to all sinners in regard to current C News patches
Message-ID: <1991Apr5.210839.14825@world.std.com>
Date: 5 Apr 91 21:08:39 GMT
References: <1991Apr03.033233.16633@buster.stafford.tx.us>
	<1991Apr3.172825.27190@zoo.toronto.edu>
	<RD.91Apr4164531@pixie.aii.com>
	<1991Apr5.175447.27096@engin.umich.edu>
Organization: Software Tool & Die Netnews Research Center
Lines: 22

Mike Pelletier:
>I noticed that most of the articles rejected were because of "nonheader"
>errrors, where the header contained a non-header line.  What qualifies
>as this?  Is the X- prefix supported, as in X-Zippy-Says: that some folks
>are wont to put in their header line?  What sort of lines qualify
>as non-header?

RFC 822 (which RFC 1036 cites) defines a message header as consisting of
header lines, followed by a blank line.  In particular, the message
header isn't over until the blank line (two newlines in a row) is seen.
Header lines consist of a keyword, a colon, and some text, and may be
continued by line(s), each of which begins with a space or tab.  RFC 1036
further requires a space (not a tab, not a newline) after the colon.

So a non-header line in the message header is anything that doesn't fit
the above restrictions.  X-Foo: is okay.  The usual problems are lack of
space after the colon (e.g. "Subject:no time to waste") or random junk:

Subject: a long,
rambling subject line
-- 
Geoff Collyer		world.std.com!geoff, uunet.uu.net!geoff