A new IETF working group has been proposed in the Applications Area. The IESG has not made any determination as yet. The following draft charter was submitted, and is provided for informational purposes only. Please send your comments to the IESG mailing list (iesg@ietf.org) by March 1st. +++ Email Address Internationalization (eai) ======================================== Current Status: Proposed Working Group 1.1. Chair(s) TBD 1.2. Applications Area Director(s) Ted Hardie <hardie@qualcomm.com> Scott Hollenbeck <shollenbeck@verisign.com> 1.3. Applications Area Advisor To be determined 1.4. Mailing Lists General Discussion: ima@ietf.org To Subscribe: https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ima Archive: http://www1.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ima/index.html 1.5. Description of Working Group Since early in the effort to internationalize domain names, which resulted in the standards associated with IDNA, it has been understood that internationalization of email address local parts is even more important. After all, most prefer variations on their names for those addresses. At the same time, email address internationalization poses a series of special problems. Constraints on the interpretation of local-parts by any system other than the final delivery one --constraints that go back to before RFC 821 and that have been vital to the operation of the Internet's email environment-- make address encoding nearly impossible. The need to use addresses in both the email envelope and in header fields, and to do so in ways that are at least compatible, suggests that this is not a simple and isolated problem. This working group will address one basic approach to email internationalization. That approach is based on the use of an SMTP extension to enable both the use of UTF-8 in envelope address local- parts and optionally in domain-parts and the use of UTF-8 in mail headers -- both in address contexts and wherever encoded-words are permitted today. Its initial target will be a set of experimental RFCs that specify the details of this approach and provide the basis for generating and testing interoperable implementations. Its work will include examining whether "downgrading" -- transforming an internationalized message to one that is compatible with unextended SMTP clients and servers and unextended MUAs -- is feasible and appropriate and, if it is, specifying a way to do so. If it is not, the WG will evaluate whether the effort is worth taking forward. Key parts of this effort include extended analyses and, if necessary, proof of concept in three areas in addition to smooth operation when all systems and components along a message path have been upgraded to support the new facilities. They are o Examination of scenarios for the appearance of these facilities to users, including ways in which alternate addresses may be specified if those are needed for downgrading. o Examination of different locations at which downgrading might be required and accomplished, differentiating between requirements and capabilities at the point of origin (at or before the submission server), those that exist while the message is in transit, and those that apply after SMTP "final delivery" or in the logical vicinity or an IMAP or POP server. o Examination of the "mailing list question", i.e., how a mixture of traditional and internationalized addresses on a mailing list will impact message flows, error reports, and delivery notifications in all plausible combinations of servers and addresses, including internationalizated and traditional reverse paths. Once the Experimental RFCs are completed and implemented, the experience gathered will be evaluated. If the approach is found to have been successful (using criteria the WG will establish as an early work item), the WG will be rechartered to update the documents for processing onto the standards track. 1.6. Deliverables The following deliverables are foreseen in this charter. The WG chairs may structure the deliverables into specific documents or document sets as needed. Adding or removing documents outside of these deliverables will require a charter update. o Overview and architecture (Info) o Interworking scenarios, including the "mailing list question" (Info) o SMTP extensions specification (Exp) o Header format specification (Exp) o Downgrading specification in SMTP (Exp) o Downgrading specification in POP servers (Exp) o Downgrading specification in IMAP servers (Exp) o Results and evaluation of experiment (Info) Going forward, it is possible that the SMTP downgrading specification will go for Informational due to the difficulty of fully specifying all necessary behaviours. NOTE IN DRAFT: Additional possible documents suggested: Advice for MUA implementors (Info) 1.7. Goals and Milestones (Very tentative so far) +-------------+--------------------------------------+--------------+ | DONE | Overview/architecture draft first | | | | draft | | | Feb 2006 | Interworking scenarios first draft | | | DONE | SMTP Extensions first draft | | | DONE | Header format first draft | | | Mar 2006 | Downgrading in SMTP first draft | | | Mar 2006 | Downgrading in POP first draft | | | Mar 2006 | Downgrading in IMAP first draft | | | Jun 2006 | Overview/architecture draft to IESG | | | Jun 2006 | Interworking scenarios to IESG | | | Sep 2006 | SMTP Extensions to IESG | | | Sep 2006 | Header format to IESG | | | Sep 2006 | Downgrading in SMTP to IESG | | | Sep 2006 | Downgrading in POP to IESG | | | Sep 2006 | Downgrading in IMAP to IESG | | | Dec 2006 | Results and evaluation first draft | | | Mar 2007 | Results and evaluation to IESG | | | Mar 2007 | Group recharter for standards track | | | | or disband | | +-------------+--------------------------------------+--------------+ Table 1 1.8. Internet-Drafts Drafts listed below were posted as initial discussion documents, significantly preceeding the meeting at IETF 64 (Vancouver, 2005 Oct). 2005.06.27 draft-lee-jet-ima-00.txt 2005.07.18 draft-klensin-emailaddr-i18n-03.txt Drafts listed below were prepared and posted to inform the discussion at IETF 64. They replace those above. o draft-klensin-ima-framework-00.txt o draft-yao-ima-smtpext-00.txt o draft-yeh-ima-utf8headers-00.txt o draft-yoneya-ima-downgrade-00.txt Drafts produced by the WG None as yet 1.9. Request For Comments None as yet _______________________________________________ IETF-Announce@ietf.org https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf-announce
