- Is there an overarching clause in another email RFC which says
something like an field which does not parse is considered to not exist?
IETF specifications vary in their directions about the handling of
non-conformance. Sometimes ignore. Sometimes reject. Etc.
Specifications define the boundaries of a sandbox and anyone choosing to
be inside the sandbox needs to be conformant. If they aren't, they
aren't really inside.
The Postel rule is often taken as permission to do whatever you want,
but, really, it was meant to cover plausible cases of non-conformance,
allowing for possible ambiguities (or even errors) in a specification.
Your reasonable interpretation might be different than someone else's
reasonable interpretation, and it might be helpful to have your protocol
engine show some empathy for the alternative interpretation.
It also might not.
d/
--
Dave Crocker
Brandenburg InternetWorking
bbiw.net
