draft-ietf-impp-cpim-msgfmt syntax

Folks,

MsgFmt specifies a unique syntax, rather than using RFC2822 or XML as its
syntactic reference.  This means that implementors will need to build a new
parser.  (The fact that the syntax has a spriritual relationship with RFC
822 syntax does not mean that it will not require a new parser.)

The original version of MsgFmt used XML, in line with the rather massive
trend towards its use in structured data representation, in order to take
advantage of the quickly-growing repertoire of XML tools.

New parsers mean new code and new code means new bugs.

One would think that an effort seeking maximum interoperability would want
to limit the sources of bugs.  (For that matter, one would think that an
effort like this would seek to keep the implementation effort as small as
possible, creating only what is essential for the main task of the format,
namely IM message semantics.)

Hence one would have expected MsgFmt either to use a profile of RFC 2822 or
to use XML.

There is still time to fix this and make a more appropriate choice.

d/
-- 
 Dave Crocker  <mailto:[email protected]>
 TribalWise <http://www.tribalwise.com>
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