Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!jarthur!ucivax!gateway
From: Alf.Hansen@pilot.cs.wisc.edu (Alf Hansen)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.iso.x400
Subject: Re: 2nd Newsletter from the Internet X.400 Project.
Message-ID: <910521115026*/G=Alf/S=Hansen/OU=cs/O=uw-madison/PRMD=xnren/C=us/@MHS>
Date: 21 May 91 16:51:55 GMT
References: <1991May18.234611.29442@mel.dit.csiro.au>
Lines: 69
Approved: usenet@ics.uci.edu
X400-Originator: Alf.Hansen@pilot.cs.wisc.edu
Content-Identifier: 910521115026
In-Reply-To: <1991May18.234611.29442@mel.dit.csiro.au >
X400-Received: by mta pilot.cs.wisc.edu in /PRMD=xnren/ADMD= /C=us/; Relayed;
               Tue, 21 May 1991 11:50:40 +0000
X400-Received: by /PRMD=xnren/ADMD= /C=us/; Relayed;
               Tue, 21 May 1991 11:50:31 +0000
X400-Content-Type: P2-1984 (2)
X400-MTS-Identifier: [/PRMD=xnren/ADMD= /C=us/;hansen674844631.22hermit.cs.uw]

Bob Smart writes:

>>
>>"  It was agreed that RFC822 addresses should be expressed using X.400
>>   domain defined attributes.  Furthermore, a special PRMD named "Internet"
>>   will be defined to facilitate the specification of RFC822 addresses.
>>   For example, an X.400 user will address an RFC822 recipient by
>>   constructing an X.400 address such as:
>>
>>     /c=us/admd= /prmd=Internet/dd.RFC-822=user(a)some.place.edu/
>
> It is sensible to use c=us, but I hope x.400 mtas in other countries will
> have the sense to deliver to a local Internet gateway.

They can either route the messages to a local gateway or send it to the
U.S.  on X.400 and they will be gatewayed in the U.S. The international
R&D MHS Service should work out criterias assisting MTA managers to make
the right routing choise.

>
> A question: is it possible to use this address format as the X.400 address
> of X.400 mail users within the Internet?

An X.400 user within the Internet has an X.400 address different from the
one above. This X.400 address should be used by other X.400 users.
Example:

My X.400 address is

  C=us; ADMD= ; PRMD=xnren; O=UW-Madison; OU=CS; S=Hansen; G=Alf

This is the address other X.400 users should use to reach me. I do
not see how you can construct an address of the PRMD=Internet-form
from this address.

> The reason I would like it done that way is that people would then have
> exactly the same address (modulo syntactic isomorphism) for both X.400 and
> rfc-822 mail. In fact I would like UAs in the Internet X.400 world to allow
> the above address to be entered as "user@some.place.edu". If we could
> switch to X.400 while keeping our familiar addresses then X.400 would have
> a MUCH better chance of being accepted. And I can't see any reason why not:
> it is not as if those cumbersome X.400 addresses were ever meant to be used
> by X.400 users.

The X.400 address space will be different from the existing RFC-822
address space. From my example above: My X.400 address above contains
UW-Madison instead of wisc (cs.wisc.edu is the "well-known' RFC-822
address), because UW-Madison tells more about the organization than wisc.

However, seen from the RFC-822 world, my X.400 address will look similar
to the "well-known" RFC-822 address for University of Wisconsin, Madison.
This is defined by the ADDRESS MAPPING between X.400 and RFC-822. The
current mapping for my X.400 address is

          Alf.Hansen@pilot.cs.wisc.edu

and will be changed asap to

          Alf.Hansen@cs.wisc.edu

and then my X.400 address looks exactly as the good old RFC-822 addresses
SEEN FROM THE RFC-822 world.

By doing this, people can move from their RFC-822 mailboxes into a new
and hopefully better X.400 address space, but seen from their friends
in the RFC-822 world, the address will still look the same.

Best regards,
Alf H.