90 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
90 lines
3.8 KiB
Plaintext
MBOX-Line: From vladimir_butenko at stalker.com Wed Apr 12 05:41:10 2006
|
|
To: imap-protocol@u.washington.edu
|
|
From: "Vladimir A. Butenko" <vladimir_butenko@stalker.com>
|
|
Date: Fri Jun 8 12:34:37 2018
|
|
Subject: [Imap-protocol] LIST Clarification
|
|
In-Reply-To: <dVr0JixdxnzBOideFFsQLA.md5@libertango.oryx.com>
|
|
References: <443A7A2D.2070708@consilient.com> <web-35034698@mail.stalker.com>
|
|
<Pine.OSX.4.64.0604101053530.2906@pangtzu.panda.com>
|
|
<web-35035906@mail.stalker.com>
|
|
<Pine.WNT.4.65.0604101441160.4904@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU>
|
|
<443C0286.60200@att.com>
|
|
<Pine.WNT.4.65.0604111228310.3332@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU>
|
|
<syMWpRdWCviH+GmTLGxvWQ.md5@libertango.oryx.com>
|
|
<Pine.WNT.4.65.0604111418130.3332@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU>
|
|
<web-35044345@mail.stalker.com>
|
|
<Pine.WNT.4.65.0604111814490.3332@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU>
|
|
<web-35045943@mail.stalker.com>
|
|
<dVr0JixdxnzBOideFFsQLA.md5@libertango.oryx.com>
|
|
Message-ID: <web-35048142@mail.stalker.com>
|
|
|
|
On Wed, 12 Apr 2006 13:29:26 +0200
|
|
Arnt Gulbrandsen <arnt@gulbrandsen.priv.no> wrote:
|
|
> Vladimir A. Butenko writes:
|
|
>> a LIST "Mark%"
|
|
>> * LIST "Mark Crispin"
|
|
>> a OK
|
|
>> b LIST "" "%CRISPIN"
|
|
>> * LIST "MARK CRISPIN"
|
|
>>
|
|
>> The later is a questionable practice, but it definitely has more
|
|
>> merits than returning unmodified "Mark Crispin" as our server (and, I
|
|
>> guess, yours) is doing now. The "Mark Crispin" string would confuse a
|
|
>> client that does not expect that string to match the "%CRISPIN"
|
|
>> pattern.
|
|
>
|
|
> Do you know that for a fact? Which client(s)?
|
|
|
|
It would be really beneficial - *IMHO* - if when rejecting some "nonexistent
|
|
Science such as computer science" one would not reject any basics of any
|
|
science at all. The protocols are written not to explain "convenient ways to
|
|
do this or that", but to SPECIFY the way of interaction between entities
|
|
involved into certain activity. If someone thinks differently, then please
|
|
ask Mr.Crispin to degrade the status of his document from "STANDARD" to
|
|
"INFORMATIONAL" or "BCP". And I will have some much needed relaxation time
|
|
reading his response to such a proposal.
|
|
|
|
The whole approach to the protocol problems based on "the fact that no
|
|
client has any problem with this or that" is WRONG - as long as we are
|
|
talking about the standards, and not articles in some tabloids (which
|
|
include computer science text books :-).
|
|
|
|
If I'd write some client, then I would expect the SPECIFIED, and not
|
|
REASONABLE (from someone's point of view) response from a server. If the
|
|
server does not return what is expected - based on the SPECIFIED STANDARD,
|
|
then that server is *broken*.
|
|
|
|
Nothing in the SPECIFIED standard says anything about "%CRISPIN" matching
|
|
"Mark Crispin". The server retuning such a response is broken - by
|
|
definition of the word "standard".
|
|
|
|
Is Mark's server broken? Yes.
|
|
Is our server broken? Yes.
|
|
Does Mark plan to fix it? I doubt it.
|
|
Do we plan to fix it? I doubt it.
|
|
|
|
The moral? If the law is violated by too many people, probably it's time to
|
|
change the law. Till then - it's the violation of the law.
|
|
|
|
My point (and provocation, as usual) was not to point the finger onto some
|
|
"broken implementations": almost all of the existing IMAP implementations
|
|
are broken in this respect. It was an illustration of a need to revise a
|
|
protocol - a long overdue task, which is, unfortunately, not a simple task.
|
|
|
|
Finally, the answer to your question ("Which clients?") - was the part of
|
|
the original phrase: "a client that does not expect that string [Mark
|
|
Crispin] to match the "%CRISPIN" pattern." Any client has a right not to
|
|
expect it.
|
|
|
|
And I do NOT care if such a client really exists or not - as long as we use
|
|
this list to talk about protocols, and not about "the simplest way to
|
|
install the XXX server on the YYY OS with a hard drive polluted by my ZZZZ
|
|
pet". That would be Computer Science...
|
|
|
|
|
|
> Arnt
|
|
|
|
Sincerely,
|
|
Vladimir
|
|
|