RFC - 3459

Critical Content Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Parameter

Original:	ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc3459.txt
Authors:	E. Burger [SnowShore Networks]
Date:	January 2003
Category:	Proposed Standard

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Updates:
RFC-3204prop	MIME media types for ISUP and QSIG Objects (Updated by RFC-3459prop)

Referred by:	8 RFC
Refers to:	21 RFC

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Status

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This document describes the use of a mechanism for identifying body parts that a sender deems critical in a multi-part Internet mail message. The mechanism described is a parameter to Content- Disposition, as described by RFC 3204^prop.

By knowing what parts of a message the sender deems critical, a content gateway can intelligently handle multi-part messages when providing gateway services to systems of lesser capability. Critical content can help a content gateway to decide what parts to forward. It can indicate how hard a gateway should try to deliver a body part. It can help the gateway to pick body parts that are safe to silently delete when a system of lesser capability receives a message. In addition, critical content can help the gateway chose the notification strategy for the receiving system. Likewise, if the sender expects the destination to do some processing on a body part, critical content allows the sender to mark body parts that the receiver must process.

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