Subject: Termination for SENDDATA command

From: Alexander Taler <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 1999 19:27:35 -0400

At the last IETF there was some objection to the use of CRLF "." CRLF
as a termination for data sent with an iRIP command, but there was no
clear agreement on what should be used instead.  Here are the options
that I see, and some of their drawbacks:

1]  Terminate the data with CRLF "." CRLF, escaping "."'s at the 
    beginning of a line a la SMTP.

    --Requires sender and receiver to parse data for CRLF "." 
      sequences.

2]  Provide a byte count when issuing the command, 
    eg "SENDDATA 2345".

    --Requires sender to fully generate data, and count it, prior to 
      commencing transmission.

3]  Provide a termination string when issuing the command, 
    eg "SENDDATA :=="

    --Sender must ensure that string does not appear in transmitted
      data, this may require fully generating and parsing data in 
      some cases.

4]  Send data across another connection, a la FTP.

    --Uh, it's complicated right?
    --Security?

Alex