RFC 1312 (rfc1312) - Page 1 of 8

Message Send Protocol 2

Alternative Format: Original Text Document
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Network Working Group                                          R. Nelson
Request for Comments: 1312                               Crynwr Software
Obsoletes: RFC 1159                                            G. Arnold
                                                  Sun Microsystems, Inc.
                                                              April 1992


                        Message Send Protocol 2

Status of this Memo

   This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
   community.  Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
   Please refer to the current edition of the "IAB Official Protocol
   Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol.
   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Discussion

   The Message Send Protocol is used to send a short message to a given
   user on a given terminal on a given host.  Unix's write command
   offers a limited form of this service through its host-local write
   command.  This service is also known on some hosts as "SEND".

   As the Internet grows, more and more people are using hosts that do
   not run Internet protocols at all times.  These hosts may be able to
   use a simple protocol that can be implemented using UDP and IP.  The
   Message Send Protocol is one such protocol.

   Note that a message sending protocol is already defined using TCP.
   The SMTP protocol includes a "SEND" command that will direct mail to
   a user's terminal.  SMTP's SEND is not useful in this instance
   because SMTP's SEND is not implemented by the majority of vendors at
   this time, and is difficult to use by unskilled users.  For the
   purposes of standardization, we will include a TCP based Message Send
   Service.

Message Syntax

   The message consists of several parts, all of which must be present
   The first part is a single octet indicating the protocol revision,
   currently decimal 66, 'B'. The remaining parts are null-terminated
   sequences of eight-bit characters in the ISO 8859/1 alphabet. Some
   parts may be empty. All comparisons of parts (e.g., recipient,







Nelson & Arnold
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