Re: MIME-Version Header Field

> Do BEEP messages require the MIME-Version header field?

> RFC 2045 states:

>  "Messages composed in accordance with this document MUST include such
>   a header field, with the following verbatim text:

>      MIME-Version: 1.0"

> As BEEP carries MIME messages, one could argue that MIME-Version is a
> mandatory header.

This is quite true, however, you've missed a crucial definition: When RFC 2045
talks about "messages" it is talking about RFC 822 messages specifically. This
is clearly stated in section 2.3.

I don't believe it is the case that BEEP is defined to carry RFC 822 messages,
so I don't believe this requirement applies to BEEP.

> However, the main practical purpose of this header is to tell a RFC
> (2)822 user agent that the message they receive is MIME or not - as BEEP
> messages are always MIME, it is not needed (unless someone decides to
> invent a new version of MIME, which seems unlikely for the near future).

It isn't the main practical purpose of the header; it is the only purpose.

I should also point out that we have plenty of examples of protocols, including
some that deal with "messages", which use MIME labelling and do not see a need
to use a MIME-Version field. The obvious example here is HTTP.

				Ned