RFC 5504 · EXPERIMENTAL · 2009

Downgrading Mechanism for Email Address Internationalization

Overview

RFC 5504, “Downgrading Mechanism for Email Address Internationalization”, is an Experimental document published in March 2009 by K. Fujiwara, Y. Yoneya. It has been obsoleted by RFC 6530 — refer to the newer document for the authoritative version. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

Traditional mail systems handle only ASCII characters in SMTP envelope and mail header fields. The Email Address Internationalization (UTF8SMTP) extension allows UTF-8 characters in SMTP envelope and mail header fields. To avoid rejecting internationalized email messages when a server in the delivery path does not support the UTF8SMTP extension, some sort of converting mechanism is required. This document describes a downgrading mechanism for Email Address Internationalization. Note that this is a way to downgrade, not tunnel. There is no associated up-conversion mechanism, although internationalized email clients might use original internationalized addresses or other data when displaying or replying to downgraded messages. This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Experimental” means

Describes a specification that is part of a research or development effort, published so the community can gain experience with it.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 5504 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
Obsoleted by
RFC 6530
Other RFCs from 2009

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