Xref: utzoo comp.mail.headers:366 comp.mail.misc:1146
Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!sco!stewarta
From: stewarta@sco.COM (Stewart I. Alpert)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.headers,comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: "X-" blithering
Keywords: X
Message-ID: <723@viscous>
Date: 3 Aug 88 20:34:33 GMT
References: <17601@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Reply-To: stewarta@sco.COM (Stewart I. Alpert)
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Lines: 17

In article <17601@glacier.STANFORD.EDU> jbn@glacier.STANFORD.EDU (John B. Nagle) writes:
>
>     The X mail system (is this part of X windows?) seems to indulge in
>heavy self-promotion.  Is all the following, taken from incoming mail,
>necessary?  It has little value to the recipient.
>
>
The X-whatever headers are not from any single system. There is an RFC-822 
convention that allows [programs|sites|people|etc] to add their own headers
by proceeding them with 'X-'.  This assures that RFC-822 compliant mailers
won't confuse these with 'officially' defined headers.  These headers may
or may not have any value to the recipient (or sender for that matter). :-)


*****************************************************************************
Internet:	stewarta@sco.COM	
UUCP:		{uunet,ucbvax!ucscc,decvax!miscosoft}!sco!stewarta