# Re: draft for 'last call'

SHAW +41 22 730 5338 (ROBERT.SHAW@itu.ch)
Mon, 12 Sep 1994 13:50:26 +0100 (CET)

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    Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 13:50:26 +0100 (CET)

    From: SHAW +41 22 730 5338 <ROBERT.SHAW@itu.ch>

    Subject: Re: draft for 'last call'

    In-Reply-To: <94Sep7.192913pdt.2760@golden.parc.xerox.com>

    To: Larry Masinter <masinter@parc.xerox.com>

    Message-Id: <5326501412091994/A87436/SIGMA/118963B21000*@MHS>

>3.5. MAILTO
>
> The mailto URL scheme is used to designate the Internet mailing
> address of an individual or service. No additional information
> other than an Internet mailing address is present or implied.
>
> A mailto URL takes the form:
>
> mailto:<rfc822-addr-spec>
>
> where <rfc822-addr-spec> is (the encoding of an) addr-spec, as
> specified in RFC 822. Within mailto URLs, no additional characters
> are reserved within the <rfc822-addr-spec> component.
>
> Note that the percent sign ("%") is commonly used within RFC 822
> addresses and must be URL-encoded.
>
> Unlike many URLs, the mailto scheme does not represent a data
> object to be accessed directly; there is no sense in which it
> designates an object. It has a different use than the
> message/external-body type in MIME.

I have been following this list "on the fringes" and I don't remember this
being discussed but it's unfortunate that the mailto URL does not have
syntax supporting retrieving files from robot mail servers. Something
like:

<URL:mailto:itudoc@itu.ch/get itu-4305>

would be equivalent to the email

To: itudoc@itu.ch
From: <me>
Subject: <ignored>
---------------------
get itu-4305
---------------------

would retrieve a document from our robot mail server. Since we have three
access methods to our document database (Gopher, FTP, email robot), it would
have been nice to be able to publish 'consistent' URLs for the three access
methods (or have I missed something?)

Robert Shaw
Information Services Department
International Telecommunication Union
Place des Nations
1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
TEL: +41 22 730 5338/5554
FAX: +41 22 730 5337
X.400:G=robert;S=shaw;A=arcom;P=itu;C=ch
Internet: shaw@itu.ch

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