4.2.1. Names and Contents Despite the restrictions on header-name syntax imposed by the grammar, relayers and reading agents SHOULD tolerate header names containing any US-ASCII printable character other than colon (":", US-ASCII 58). Header-names SHOULD be either those for which a USENET-header-content is established by this standard, or by [RFC 2822], or by any extension to either of these standards including, in particular, the MIME standards [RFC 2045] et seq., or else experimental headers beginning with "X-" (as defined in 4.2.2.1). Software SHOULD NOT attempt to interpret headers not described in this standard or in its extensions, but relaying agents MUST pass them on unaltered and reading agents MUST enable them to be displayed, at least optionally. The possibility of allowing header-parameters to appear in all headers is provided mainly for the purpose of allowing future extensions to existing headers, since only a very few USENET-header- parameters are actually defined in this standard. Observe that such header-parameters do not, in general, occur in headers defined in other standards, except for the MIME standards [RFC 2045] et seq. and their extensions. Nevertheless, compliant software MUST accept all such header-parameters in headers defined by this standard and its extensions (ignoring them if their meaning is unknown) and SHOULD accept (and ignore) them in all headers. [but what about address = mailbox / group group = phrase ":" [mailbox-list] ";" Does the following NOTE cover the situation?] NOTE: The presence of a ";" in a header-content does not indicate the presence of a header-parameter in the few situations where it can be parsed as part of some USENET- header-content or other-header-content. On the other hand, posting agents SHOULD NOT generate header- parameters (even those using x-tokens) except in those headers for which a USENET-header-parameter has been defined, or where that usage is permitted by some other standard (notably one of the MIME standards). This restriction is likely to removed in a future version of this standard. NOTE: The given syntax is ambiguous insofar as a USENET-header- content that is defined to be <unstructured> could contain, within that <unstructured>, text of the form <*(";" header- parameter)>. The intention is therefore that any such apparent header-parameters are to be regarded as part of the <unstructured>. This standard therefore does not (and extensions to it SHOULD NOT) define any USENET-header-parameter to be associated with such an unstructured USENET-header-content. The order of headers in an article is not significant. However, posting agents are encouraged to put mandatory headers (section 5) first, followed by optional headers (section 6), followed by experimental headers and headers not defined in this standard or its extensions. Relaying agents MUST NOT change the order of the headers in an article. Header-names are case-insensitive. There is a preferred case convention, which posters and posting agents Ought to use: each hyphen-separated "word" has its initial letter (if any) in uppercase and the rest in lowercase, except that some abbreviations have all letters uppercase (e.g. "Message-ID" and "MIME-Version"). The forms used in this standard are the preferred forms for the headers described herein. Relaying and reading agents MUST, however, tolerate articles not obeying this convention.[< Prev] [TOC] [ Next >]
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--- ../usefor-article-04/Names_and_Contents.out April 2001 +++ ../usefor-article-05/Names_and_Contents.out July 2001 @@ -3,16 +3,14 @@ Despite the restrictions on header-name syntax imposed by the grammar, relayers and reading agents SHOULD tolerate header names containing any US-ASCII printable character other than colon (":", - ASCII 58). -[To bring it into line with <optional-field> as given in [MESSFOR].] - + US-ASCII 58). Header-names SHOULD be either those for which a USENET-header-content - is defined in this standard, or those defined in [MESSFOR], or those - defined in any extension to either of these standards including, in - particular, the Mime standards [RFC 2045] et seq., or experimental - headers beginning with "X-" (as defined in 4.2.2.1). Software SHOULD - NOT attempt to interpret headers not described in this standard or in - its extensions, but relaying agents MUST pass them on unaltered and + is established by this standard, or by [RFC 2822], or by any + extension to either of these standards including, in particular, the + MIME standards [RFC 2045] et seq., or else experimental headers + beginning with "X-" (as defined in 4.2.2.1). Software SHOULD NOT + attempt to interpret headers not described in this standard or in its + extensions, but relaying agents MUST pass them on unaltered and reading agents MUST enable them to be displayed, at least optionally. The possibility of allowing header-parameters to appear in all @@ -29,17 +27,18 @@ address = mailbox / group group = phrase ":" [mailbox-list] ";" Does the following NOTE cover the situation?] + NOTE: The presence of a ";" in a header-content does not indicate the presence of a header-parameter in the few situations where it can be parsed as part of some USENET- header-content or other-header-content. - On the other hand, posting agents SHOULD NOT generate them (even - those using x-tokens) except in those headers for which a USENET- - header-parameter has been defined, or where that usage is permitted - by some other standard (notably one of the Mime standards). This - restriction is likely to removed in a future version of this - standard. + On the other hand, posting agents SHOULD NOT generate header- + parameters (even those using x-tokens) except in those headers for + which a USENET-header-parameter has been defined, or where that usage + is permitted by some other standard (notably one of the MIME + standards). This restriction is likely to removed in a future version + of this standard. NOTE: The given syntax is ambiguous insofar as a USENET-header- content that is defined to be <unstructured> could contain, @@ -55,12 +54,9 @@ first, followed by optional headers (section 6), followed by experimental headers and headers not defined in this standard or its extensions. Relaying agents MUST NOT change the order of the headers - in an article, though they MAY add additional headers (notablt local - headers (4.2.2.3), preferably either before or after all the existing - ones. - + in an article. Header-names are case-insensitive. There is a preferred case - convention, which posters and posting agents SHOULD use: each + convention, which posters and posting agents Ought to use: each hyphen-separated "word" has its initial letter (if any) in uppercase and the rest in lowercase, except that some abbreviations have all letters uppercase (e.g. "Message-ID" and "MIME-Version"). The forms