Re: Problems of Internationalized Mail Address eXtensions (IMAX)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Simon Josefsson" <[email protected]>
To: "Paul Hoffman / IMC" <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 7:10 AM
Subject: Re: Problems of Internationalized Mail Address eXtensions (IMAX)
>
> Paul Hoffman / IMC <[email protected]> writes:
>
> > At 12:38 PM +0100 2/26/03, Simon Josefsson wrote:
> >>My question was sincere.  IMAX appears to be a solution for
> >>internationalization of MTAs, at the SMTP layer.  It does not propose
> >>solving the internationalization problem for MUAs.
> >
> > Yes, it does. It shows exactly how an MUA should display ACE names.
>
> * IMAA requires the I18NMTA to implement punycode.  IMAX doesn't
>   (assuming my suggested clarification about treating RHS as a IDNA
>   aware domain name slot is adopted).
>
> * You claim that under the IMAA design it is reasonable to implement
>   separate applications for viewing log files and editing
>   configuration files in the I18NMTA.  IMAX doesn't require this as it
>   uses the system's native character set.
>
> * IMAA requires the I18NMTA to support Unicode.  While Unicode is a
>   good thing, it can be difficult to implement in existing systems.
>   It is potentially disruptive to the Internet Mail system, using your
>   terminology.  My idea of using a IMAX solution without fallback do
>   not require this.  No, I haven't described this idea in an Internet
>   Draft, so you don't have to challenge the proposition, but I'd
>   appreciate if you did.
>

I actually have some trouble understanding this. IMAA would not require
I18NMTA. It uses ACE straight off the bat, and the implementation would
require updates to the MUA only and not the MTA. The only problem anyone
would face would be to ensure that the input of the names into whatever
mapping tables/control files are of the correct ACE format.

> You are welcome to add propositions that are to IMAA's advantage.
>
> > It allows other entities in the Internet Mail system to easily use
> > the internationalized email addresses without having to know
> > anything about multiple charsets and repertoires.
>
> That isn't true.  Not all systems are using Unicode, but IMAA requires
> that they implement Unicode.  Clearly that is forcing them to know
> about multiple charsets.
>

Because IMAA is done right at the start of the email process, before the
first SMTP MUA-MTA transaction, the addresses are already in ACE. Once again
the only problem anyone would face would be to ensure that input of the
names into whatever mapping tables/control files are of the correct ACE
format. The only other reason why this could be a problem would be if an
implementation required these files to be in something like UTF-8 or other
similar formats.

jeffrey j zahari