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From: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org>
Message-Id: <199612191808.LAA11816@phaeton.artisoft.com>
Subject: Re: 8-bit characters in gecos field
To: eivind@dimaga.com (Eivind Eklund)
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 11:08:52 -0700 (MST)
Cc: davidn@freefall.freebsd.org, hackers@freebsd.org
In-Reply-To: <3.0.32.19961219145037.009b7b70@dimaga.com> from "Eivind Eklund" at Dec 19, 96 02:50:41 pm
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> If somebody is going to implement this, PLEASE do not use quot=3D65ed=3D6=
> 5d
> unr=3D65adable as actual encoding; use 8-bit, and if you really feel it
> nescessary, use quoted unreadable to indicate character set.  This will n=
> ot
> work, but it will do less damage. :)  (No american should come here and
> tell me to transfer my .plan or .project as 7-bit encoded until he has ha=
> d
> his own .plan transferred with MIME-escapes used for all vowels for at
> least 6 months.)

The quoting is for sticking outherwise invalid values into a range
restricted data stream.

In other words, it's useful for the 'F' in a leading "From" or the '.'
in a line starting with a '.' (to avoid invoking a byte stuffing state
machine on top of the quoting one that has to be there anyway) inside
a message body followin a DATA command in an RFC821 connection.

So it's not just GECOS data.

The problem with GECOS data is that if I have an ISP account that I
use to fan out mail for several users, and I use the address form:


	To: Fred Smith <smith@isp.com>

and

	To: Wilma Smith <smith@isp.com>

And fan out using the long name, I am using the GECOS data.

RFC822 specifies: "Each header field can be viewed as a single,
		   logical line of ASCII characters" ...

ASCII == 7 bits

Therefore the "To:" line GECOS ("long name") data must be 7 bit; 8 bit
data may be transfered, but if it is, it must be quoted.


					Terry Lambert
					terry@lambert.org
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.