Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!uwvax!rutgers!ucsd!ucsdhub!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpl-opus!hpccc!hp-sde!hpfcdc!hpfclp!diamant
From: diamant@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM (John Diamant)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.headers
Subject: Re: "X-" blithering
Message-ID: <7260007@hpfclp.SDE.HP.COM>
Date: 5 Aug 88 04:14:45 GMT
References: <17601@glacier.STANFORD.EDU>
Organization: HP SDE, Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 27

>      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.
> 
> 	X-To:
> 	X-Mailer:
> 	X-Origin:
> 	X-Possible-Reply-Path:
> 	X-St-Vmsmail-To:
> 	X-Vms-To:

There is no such thing as the "X mail system."  There are mailers that run
under the X Window System (xmh, for instance) but they have nothing to do
with these headers.  The "X-" prefix is specified by the mail standards
(RFC822, I think) for any header which is not official.  In other words, 
if your mailer wants to put a header on a message that isn't a supported
header, it should preceed the name by "X-."  You may still choose to argue
that the headers are useless, but I would disagree in at least some cases
(X-Mailer, for instance).  However, any mail user interface worth its salt
will hide these headers unless you ask to see them, so it really is a moot
point.


John Diamant
Software Development Environments
Hewlett-Packard Co.		ARPA Internet: diamant@hpfclp.sde.hp.com
Fort Collins, CO		UUCP:  {hplabs,hpfcla}!hpfclp!diamant