[ih] Fwd: Design choices in SMTP

[Steffen Nurpmeso]

dcrocker at bbiw.net wrote in
 <81d699a5-2be9-1ff4-08a9-c4c7daddff6e at dcrocker.net>:
 |On 2/7/2023 6:06 PM, John Day via Internet-history wrote:
 |> mail was originally part of FTP
 |
 |Just realized that this needs a bit of clarification.  Thanks to Ray 
 |Tomlinson, networked email originally used the Tenex CPYNET file 
 |transfer capability.  He linked it to the Tenex SNDMSG command.
 |
 |Why this fact is more than a reference to the creation of networked mail 
 |and actually covers "original use" is due to the popularity of Tenex 
 |around the Arpanet, and the delay until email commands were added to FTP.
 |
 |  * Ray did his thing at the end of 1971. I don't know the propagation
 |    rate it had to the rest of the community, but it was quick. (My
 |    involvement in the Arpanet didn't start until Spring of 1972.  I
 |    can't claim memories about this topic that early.)

Here RFC 354 (THE FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL) and RFC 385 (COMMENTS ON
THE FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL) are missing, the latter includes MAIL
and MLFL.  And there is also RFC 561 "Standardizing Network Mail
Headers".  (Now, i really would have to read them again, i was
born in June 1972, you know.)

 |  * RFC 458 (2/73) set the foundation for MAIL and MLFL. It appears to
 |    be one of the outputs from a meeting that month about FTP and
 |    included discussion of adding email capabilities.  But it was only a
 |    discussion piece.

They seem to 

 |  * RFC 475 also discusses the topic and introduces the MAIL and MLFL
 |    constructs.
 |  * Yet the Aug, 1973 FTP revision (RFC 542) still does not include MAIL
 |    or MLFL. In fact, it has text that says mail should be a separate
 |    protocol, even as it defines a mail Reply code...

This is ARPANET specific?  Now, i really have no idea, but it
seems a differenciation is necessary.  (I personally have and
would _always_ make a difference in between humans born in the USA
and US politics/military, as it always seemed to be overly
necessary.  Even with Carter, when i was a kid.  (That balloon was
also shot if i recall correctly.)  Imho.)

 |  * The mail commands did not show up in the FTP specification document
 |    until 1980 (RFC 765)!  Although they had, of course, been in
 |    widespread use long before that.
 |
 |While I have no memory or documentation of when these commands were 
 |deployed in FTP, it's clear that it was not immediately after Ray 
 |created networked mail, and yet email was quickly widely used. Offhand, 
 |I'd guess the delay for the FTP commands was in the 1-2 year range.  
 |Possibly longer?
 |
 |Ergo, an original /use/ claim needs to cite CPYNET, not FTP.

--steffen
|
|Der Kragenbaer,                The moon bear,
|der holt sich munter           he cheerfully and one by one
|einen nach dem anderen runter  wa.ks himself off
|(By Robert Gernhardt)