Message Transmission Protocol
RFC 680
| Document | Type |
RFC - Unknown
(April 1975; No errata)
Updates RFC 561
|
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
| Stream | Legacy | ||
| Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
| Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 680 (Unknown) | |
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
Network Working Group T. Myer
Request for Comment: 680 D. Henderson
NIC: 32116 BBN-TENEX
April 30, 1975
Message Transmission Protocol
Theodore H. Myer
D. Austin Henderson
BBN-TENEX
This document defines a number of message fields beyond those
discussed in RFC 561. The overall message format is compatible with
RFC 561; it makes extensive use of the miscellaneous fileds defined
within RFC 561. The purpose of this document is to establish ARPANET
standards with regard to the syntax and semantics for these
additional fields. It is fully expected that all fields discussed
herein will not be automatically processed by all Message Servers;
however, the standard is necessary so that sites which wish to make
use of these fields have a standard to work with.
This document attempts to tread the narrow line between features for
human processing and features for machine processing. The general
feeling is that the fields listed are useful to people even if
automatic processing is not supplied. In most cases, machine-
readable notations have been enclosed in angle brackets (<>) to allow
easy non-ambiguous ways for automatic processes to know whether and
where to look in any field. The entire specifications has been made
excessively general to allow for experimentation. Future documents
based on experience will try to be more specific. This is simply the
next step following <RFC 561>.
This document is contained in two sections. Section I contains the
relevant parts of RFC 561 which define the basic message syntax.
Section II lists the new (and existing) header fields together with
their proposed uses.
[Page 1]
RFC 680
SECTION I: BASIC MESSAGE SYNTAX
<message> ::= <header><crlf><body>
<header> ::= <required header><optional header>
<required header> ::= <date item><sender item>
<date item> ::= DATE:<sp><date><sp>AT<sp>
<time>-<zone><crlf>
<date> ::= <vdate> ! <tdate>
<vdate> ::= <dayofmonth><SP><vmonth><SP><vyear>
<tdate> ::= <tmonth>/<dayofmonth>/<tyear>
<dayofmonth> ::= one or two decimal digits
<vmonth> ::= JAN ! FEB ! MAR ! APR ! MAY ! JUN !
JUL ! AUG ! SEP ! OCT ! NOV ! DEC
<tmonth> ::= one or two decimal digits
<vyear> ::= four decimal digits
<tyear> ::= two decimal digits
<zone> ::= EST ! EDT ! CST ! CDT ! MST ! MDT !
PST ! PDT ! GMT ! GDT
<time> ::= four decimal digits
<sender item := SENDER: <sp><user><sp>AT<sp><host>
<crlf>
<optional header> ::= <subjects><optional items>
<subjects> ::= !<subject item> !
<subject item><subjects>
<subject item> ::= SUBJECT:<sp><line><crlf>
<optional items> ::= <optional item> ! <optional item>
<optional items>
<optional item> ::= <messid> ! <addressee item> !
<other item>
<addressee item> ::= <addressee keyword>:<sp><addressee
list><crlf>
<addressee keywork> ::= TO:! CC:! BCC:!
<messid> ::= Message-ID:<sp>[<Net
Address>}]<line>
<crlf>
<other item> ::= <other keyword>:<sp><line><crlf>
<other keyword> ::= FROM ! IN-REPLY-TO! REFERENCES!
KEYWORD ! PRECEDENCE !
MESSAGE-CLASS!
SPECIAL-HANDLING! AUTHENTICATION!
ACCESSION-KEY
<address list> ::= <addressee> ! <addressee><addressee
list>
<addressee> ::= <mailbox> ! <mailbox group>
<mailbox> ::= <user><host spec><attention spec>
<host spec> ::= !@<host>
<attention spec> ::= (ATTN:<sp><user list>)
[Page 2]
RFC 680
<user list> ::= <user> ! <user><user list>
<mailbox group> ::= <group name>:(<group numbers>)
<group numbers> ::= ! (<mailbox list>)
<mailbox list> ::= <mailbox> ! <mailbox>,<mailboxlist>
<body> ::= <line><CRLF> ! <line><CRLF><body>
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