RS> You are obviously just playing silly buggers and doing some
 RS> cage rattling, but you get the basics totally screwed.

  You're half right.

 BL> Why do you need an EOT to define the end of a message when you
 BL> have a tear line and origin line *following* the EOT that are
 BL> part of the message anyway! The tear line can define the end...
 BL> or the origin line.

 RS> Very simple really, the SOT and EOT bracket the message text
 RS> body. All the stuff outside that is header type stuff, even if
 RS> it trails.

  The message is *already* bracketed by the compulsory "AREA:" line
and the "* Origin" origin line. SOT and EOT are also "header type
stuff", so they don't change that, and the EOT on the end actually
interfers with the Origin line that *has* to be displayed in the
message to give an address for netmail replies.

 RS> If you choose to optimise the alg for the traditional PKT
 RS> format, coz no one uses SOT and EOT, all you have to do is
 RS> check for those AFTER you have identified the message body and
 RS> drop them. Dead easy to do.

  Yes... but unnecessary! It simply adds to the processing time and
gives nothing in return. I have to read right through every message
to find them.

  In fact, I have decided to erase all the ^a lines in one go, but
that only confirms how useless SOT and EOT are - if I actaully *want*
to dump them without using them first.

  I identify the start of the actual message with "AREA:" knowing its
spacing to the previous field as a double-check, and I identify the
end of the text with the origin line, in order to protect the
seenby line. It's a pity its proximity to the message null terminator
is not defined - so there is no double-check, just a fallback if the
Origin is missing, but EOT is no different. If I use EOT, I have to
read the tear line and origin line as well, and add them to the
message later. It's simpler to just wipe all the ^a lines in one go.

 RS> You really dont have much choice while almost no one uses SOT
 RS> and EOT.

  Only Paul... 

  The tear line is no more than free advertising for the mail
processor. I'd like to see it removed, and the position of the
origin line specified wrt the null terminator, so that the seenby
becomes a protected, fixed-length de-facto footer.

Regards,
Bob
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
@EOT:

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