Wolfgang Redtenbacher comments on this list (Tue, 28 Nov 2000) are
pertinent and he knows the details of the RFCs much better than I
could, so I wouldn't dare to argue about that with him. Though I
thought I had qualified my remarks in respect to the very "optional"
character of the "last" command and the (earlier) *practice* of its
use - meaning that there had been a state of affairs where it could be
used in a convenient way by "users". And indeed some DOS programs, the
most prominent perhaps being Nettamer, took advantage of this
convenience (even if it was never said to be a formal convention).
The thrust of Wolfgang's post would be that this Nettamer, or more
precisely, one of it's mail maintenance functionalies ("get new mail,
delete old mail only") would be "bad" in terms of compliance to
RFCs/standards; which I doubt he would have meant with it.
Nevertheless he made it crystal clear that there is what I consider a
serious shortcoming with the present POP3 specifications: there is no
means - both the UIDL and the "last" command being defined as
"optional" - of a "safety net" for mail maintenace with POP3 servers.
And not for nothing even Eric Raymond was "steaming" about this.
Seen that POP3 is by far the widest available mailbox protocol
presently available for the general public (one has to search for a
while to find ISPs offering IMAP4 servers, and at a decent rate)(*), I
consider this quite relevant. And it's even more relevant when one
works with "low resources" (of all sorts, <g>).
Thus, to sharpen my argument: There has been a good, and user-friendly
practice of ISPs (even if that was never mandatory for them); and this
is over now.
And I'm curious about the reasons; anyone closer than me to (the
ISP-economics of) server programming would be welcome to comment.
// Heimo Claasen // <hammer at revobild dot net> // Brussels 2000-11-29
The WebPlace of ReRead - and much to read ==> http://www.inti.be/hammer
(*) Precisely because POP3 is cheaper for ISPs, and was meant to save
storage volume and bandwidth for *them*; while IMAP indeed is devised to
have the housekeeping done at the server. Though even in times of (much
hype about) flatrates, this makes for a difference in telco prices for
*users* too; at least over here in EUrope most individual/private
mailboxes are of the telco-fee intensive, dial-up/POP3 server type. -hc
To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message.
Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies.
More info can be found at;
http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
