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diff --git a/doc/rfc/rfc1437.txt b/doc/rfc/rfc1437.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..63e05bd --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/rfc/rfc1437.txt @@ -0,0 +1,339 @@ + + + + + + +Network Working Group N. Borenstein +Request for Comments: 1437 Bellcore + M. Linimon + Lonesome Dove Computing Services + 1 April 1993 + + + The Extension of MIME Content-Types to a New Medium + +Status of this Memo + + This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does + not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is + unlimited. + +Abstract + + A previous document, RFC 1341, defines a format and general framework + for the representation of a wide variety of data types in Internet + mail. This document defines one particular type of MIME data, the + matter-transport/sentient-life-form type. The matter- + transport/sentient-life-form MIME type is intended to facilitate the + wider interoperation of electronic mail messages that include entire + sentient life forms, such as human beings. + + Other informally proposed subtypes, such as "non-sentient-life-form", + "non-sentient-non-life-form", and the orthogonally necessary but + nevertheless puzzling "sentient-non-life-form", are not described in + this memo. + +The matter-transport/sentient-life-form MIME type + + In order to promote the wider interoperability of life-bearing email, + this document defines a new MIME content-type, "matter-transport", + and for an initial subtype, "sentient-life-form". This subtype was + designed to meet the following criteria: + + 1. The syntax must be extremely simple to parse, to minimize the + risk of accidental death due to misinterpretation of the standard. + + 2. The data format must be extremely robust, with redundancy to + ensure that individual life forms will survive and be + reconstituted in such a form as to be nearly indistinguishable + from their initial state, no matter how many bizarre email + gateways are encountered in transit. + + 3. The syntax must be extensible to allow for the description of + all yet-undiscovered aspects of life forms which will be required + + + +Borenstein & Linimon [Page 1] + +RFC 1437 MIME Content-Types for a New Medium 1 April 1993 + + + for the transport of non-human species (e.g. dolphins, Klingons, + or politicians). + + 4. The syntax must be compatible with SGML, so that with an + appropriate DTD (Document Type Definition -- the standard + mechanism for defining a document type using SGML), a general SGML + parser could be written to parse the data structure and produce + directives to a lifeform-reconstitution mechanism. However, + despite this compatibility, the syntax will most likely be far + simpler than that of full SGML (so that no SGML knowledge is + required in order to implement it), since it is anticipated that + the full complexities of SGML will not be necessary for the + description of even arbitrarily complex organic life forms. + + The syntax of the new content-type is very simple, and indeed makes + considerable sacrifice of efficiency in the interest of simplicity. + It is assumed to describe a three-dimensional rectangular solid, with + the height, width, and depth (calibrated in centimeters) specified as + parameters on the content-type line. (In general, this should be a + cube that completely contains the life form being transported; but, + where high bandwidth is not available, a somewhat smaller cube can be + used, provided that facilities are known to be available at the + recipient's end to administer the medical first aid that could be + necessary if an individual is reconstituted sans some of its + extremities.) A fourth parameter gives the resolution of the matter + scan, calibrated in Angstroms. Thus, the following Content-type + value: + + Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form; + height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=10 + + implies that the cube being described is 60 cm by 60 cm by 200 cm, + and is described to a resolution of 10 Angstroms. The resolution + gives the quantization unit, and therefore determines the quality of + the reproduction. The data stream itself then consists of a readout + of the molecule found at each location, using the given resolution. + If the resolution is high enough that more than one molecule is found + in a given location, the molecule whose nucleus is closest to the + center of the cube is used. Each molecule is described by its + molecular formula, rendered in ASCII for maximum readability if + matter-transport mail is inadvertently delivered to a human recipient + and displayed on a terminal screen. Each molecule is followed by a + space (ASCII 32) to separate it from the subsequent molecule + description. Extremely long molecules may require the use of a + content-transfer-encoding such as quoted-printable, to ensure that + line-wrapping mail systems do not, for example, cause the unintended + breakdown of complex proteins into their constituent elements. + + + + +Borenstein & Linimon [Page 2] + +RFC 1437 MIME Content-Types for a New Medium 1 April 1993 + + + The following is a message that gives a somewhat simplified rendition + of a well-known American politician, starting from the top: + + From: "Nathaniel S. Borenstein" <nsb@bellcore.com> + To: Mark Linimon <linimon@lonesome.com> + Subject: Think hard before reconstructing + Content-description: Dan Quayle, low-res version + Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form + height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000 + + Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe + Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 NO2 Fe + Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe + Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe Fe + + Obviously, a real politician's skull is more complex than pure iron, + as is its interior, but this simplified example should give the + general flavor of the protocol. + + (A caveat, however, in the reconstitution of Vice-Presidents of the + United States: allegedly, some of the matter-reconstitution schemes + currently under development are reputed to perform less than + optimally while trying to reconstitute areas of relatively high + vacuum; for instance, their skulls. A recommended acceptance test + might be to experiment with subjects whose skulls are only at partial + vacuum, such as Vice-Presidents of Marketing.) + +MHS (X.400) Gateway Considerations + + The proper behavior of a MIME/MHS gateway with regard to the + transmission of complex multimedia messages is a topic of ongoing + investigation under the auspices of the IETF. The addition of matter + transport should not significantly complicate that effort, as it is + already necessary to specify gateway behavior for MIME types that + have no X.400 equivalents, and matter transport is simply another + + + +Borenstein & Linimon [Page 3] + +RFC 1437 MIME Content-Types for a New Medium 1 April 1993 + + + such untranslatable type. + + However, real-world X.400 gateways might be considered to + significantly increase the hazard that mail containing a human being + will be rejected with a message so cryptic that the recipient deletes + it without ever realizing that an embedded human being is enclosed. + For this reason, it is recommended that the subject of matter + transport be explicitly marked "for further study" in the next + generation of the X.400 specification, X.400-1996. This will give + the community ample time to define a more complete specification for + matter transport as part of X.400-2000, and possibly even a readily- + implementable specification as part of X.400-2004, although some will + no doubt argue that this would be too strong a break with tradition. + +Implementation Considerations + + The user is cautioned against passing MIME transporter messages + through computers equipped with the NFS file system. A no-file space + error caused one of the laboratory rats on our prototype system to be + truncated to a zero-length file. Unfortunately we had neglected to + mount a scratch rat. (We have decided to permanently retain the + empty filename in his honor). + + Byte swapping problems on other storage systems can be similarly + annoying, but should not be a problem if network byte order is always + maintained ocrrcelty. + + Despite the authors' belief in the robustness of the protocol, + passage of email through certain systems seems to result in the + sentient-life-form arriving at its destination upside down, resulting + in an annoying "thud". The cause is still under investigation. + + Interoperation with matter-transporters using polar coordinate + systems is discouraged, due to round-off and other algorithmic errors + in certain ubiquitous floating-point implementations, leading to + results which are best discreetly described as "disappointing." + + Similarly, off-by-one errors should be avoided. + + Widespread adoption of this protocol may lead to an increase in user + demand for reliable backup systems. More importantly, for the first + time management may be motivated to adequately fund such systems when + they discover the possibility that proper email backup may confer + upon them virtual immortality. (On the other hand, implementors + should seriously consider the desirability of making their managers + immortal.) + + + + + +Borenstein & Linimon [Page 4] + +RFC 1437 MIME Content-Types for a New Medium 1 April 1993 + + + An additional concern reflects the fact that, prior to the + introduction of this content-type, duplicate mail delivery was a + relatively minor nuisance. With the mail extensions described in + this document, however, comes the possibility that duplicate mail + delivery will leave a user with, for example, multiple spouses or + mothers-in-law. The relative weights of the desire to avoid + duplicate delivery and the desire to avoid lost mail may change + accordingly. + +Security Considerations + + Security considerations are not discussed in this memo. However, law + enforcement officials might wish to consider the possibility that + this mechanism could be used by criminals, either to escape + extradition by mailing themselves outside of a legal jurisdiction, or + to outwait the statute of limitations by mailing themselves through + complex mail routes with long delays. (One supposes that they could + also look on the bright side, and consider MIME as a possible + approach to solving the long-standing problem of prison + overcrowding.) + +Authors + + The authors of this document may be reconstituted by feeding the + following data to an Internet-connected MIME reader: + +Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=NextAuthor + +--NextAuthor +Content-type: message/external-body; access-type=anon-ftp; + site=thumper.bellcore.com; directory=pub/nsb; name=nsb.flesh +Content-Description: Nathaniel Borenstein + +Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form + height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000 +--NextAuthor +Content-type: message/external-body; access-type=anon-ftp; + site=thumper.bellcore.com; directory=pub/nsb; name=linimon.flesh +Content-Description: Mark Linimon + +Content-type: matter-transport/sentient-life-form + height = 200; width = 60; depth=60; resolution=100000 +--NextAuthor-- + + + + + + + + +Borenstein & Linimon [Page 5] + +RFC 1437 MIME Content-Types for a New Medium 1 April 1993 + + +Authors' Addresses + + Nathaniel Borenstein + Bellcore Room MRE 2D-296 + 445 South Street + Morristown, NJ 07962-1910 + + Phone: (201) 829-4270 + EMail: nsb@bellcore.com + + + Mark Linimon + Lonesome Dove Computing Services + P.O. Box 20291 + Roanoke, VA 24018 + + Phone: (703) 776-1004 + EMail: linimon@LONESOME.COM + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Borenstein & Linimon [Page 6] +
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