Re:CRLF is obsolete and should be abolished
by inopinatus on Monday October 14, 2024 @09:00PM
(#41843876)
Yes, CRLF is dumb. Trying to justify the problem seems unnecessary, it's widely acknowledged. A productive inquiry looks at why fixing it didn't happen yet. Don't confuse that line of thought for calling for more failure.
This is unrealistic, though:
> I don't believe in Postel's Law
All the systems around us that work properly do believe in it, and they will continue to do so. No-one who writes MTAs or reverse proxies &c is gonna listen to the wolves howling at the moon for change when there's no better plan that "ram it through unilaterally". Irrespective of what any individual may believe, Postel's Law remains axiomatic in protocol design & implementation.
More constructively, it may be that line-oriented protocols will only move towards change when they can explicitly negotiate line termination preferences during the opening handshake/banner/key exchange etc, which inevitably means a protocol revision in every case and very careful consideration of when CRLF is passed through anyway (e.g. email body).
This is unrealistic, though:
> I don't believe in Postel's Law
All the systems around us that work properly do believe in it, and they will continue to do so. No-one who writes MTAs or reverse proxies &c is gonna listen to the wolves howling at the moon for change when there's no better plan that "ram it through unilaterally". Irrespective of what any individual may believe, Postel's Law remains axiomatic in protocol design & implementation.
More constructively, it may be that line-oriented protocols will only move towards change when they can explicitly negotiate line termination preferences during the opening handshake/banner/key exchange etc, which inevitably means a protocol revision in every case and very careful consideration of when CRLF is passed through anyway (e.g. email body).