Jacob_Palme_QZ%QZCOM.MAILNET@MIT-MULTICS.ARPA (10/21/86)
The AMIGO project in Europe has developed a proposal for a standard way of handling mailing-lists. The advantage of having a standard for mailing-list handling is that it is easier to provide nice user services if the way mailing-lists work is standardized. The proposal from AMIGO will also allow lists to be members of each other circularly without looping messages. The AMIGO proposal for mailing-lists is mainly defined in the P2 layer of X.400, but defined in such a way that it can also be used in RFC821/822 based nets, and so that the mailing-list specific information will be conveyed between X.400 and RFC821/822 through gateways according to the RFC987 recommendation for gateways between X.400 and RFC821/822. We are fully aware that CCITT is going to standardize mailing- lists entirely in the P1 layer of X.400, but we believe there will be a need for P2-based mailing-lists because these can be imple- mented (according to our proposal) without any change to the X.400 or RFC821/822 recommendations, while the CCITT recommendation, when it is ready, will require rewriting of not only the message systems handling mailing list expansion, but also all the systems which carry information between two nested lists. The AMIGO proposal contains (a) A recommendation how the header and envelope fields (RFC821/822 information) is to be handled by a mailing-list expander. (b) A standard for remote operations on a mailing list, such as adding yourself or removing yourself from a remote list, getting a list sent to you of the members of a lists, getting a list of all mailing lists at a certain host (all of course subject to access control). These operations are done by specially formatted P2 or RFC822 messages, and do not require any change to the X.400 or RFC message standards. A version of the AMIGO proposal will be available for comment in 2-4 weeks from now, and you can request a copy by writing to AMIGODOC@SEARN.BITNET or AMIGODOC%SEARN.BITNET@WISCVM.ARPA The proposal will be sent to you electronically unless you speci- fically ask for a paper copy and supply your postal address. We will in December 1986 begin pilot implementation of the AMIGO proposal within four different message systems in France, Germany, United Kingdom and Sweden. People outside the AMIGO project are welcome to participate in the pilot implementation of the AMIGO proposal for mailing-lists.