MSGID / REPLY
A standard for unique message identifiers
and reply chain linkage
17 December, 1991
jim nutt
1:114/30@fidonet
Status of this document:
This FTS (FidoNet(r) Technical Standard) specifies an optional
standard for the FidoNet community. Implementation of the
protocols defined in this document is not mandatory, but all
implementations of these protocols are expected to adhere to this
standard. Distribution of this document is unlimited.
Fido and FidoNet are registered marks of Tom Jennings and Fido
Software.
MSGID
A MSGID line consists of the string "^AMSGID:" (where ^A is a
control-A (hex 01) and the double-quotes are not part of the
string), followed by a space, the address of the originating
system, and a serial number unique to that message on the
originating system, i.e.:
^AMSGID: origaddr serialno
The originating address should be specified in a form that
constitutes a valid return address for the originating network.
If the originating address is enclosed in double-quotes, the
entire string between the beginning and ending double-quotes is
considered to be the orginating address. A double-quote character
within a quoted address is represented by by two consecutive
double-quote characters. The serial number may be any eight
character hexadecimal number, as long as it is unique - no two
messages from a given system may have the same serial number
within a three years. The manner in which this serial number is
generated is left to the implementor.
REPLY
A REPLY line consists of the string "^AREPLY:" (where ^A is a
control-A (hex 01) and the double-quotes are not part of the
string), followed by a space, and the origaddr and serialno
fields of the MSGID line of the message to which this message is a
reply, i.e.:
^AREPLY: origaddr serialno
The origaddr and serialno fields must be identical to the
corresponding fields in the MSGID of the message to which this
message is a reply. A REPLY line is never generated in a
message that is a reply to a message that does not contain a
MSGID line.
GENERAL
MSGID and REPLY lines should be placed before the text body of the
message in which they appear.
Finally, a MSGID is generated only at the time of message
creation. An existing MSGID and/or REPLY should never be stripped
from a message passing through an intermediate system. No system
should ever add an MSGID and/or REPLY to, or modify an existing
MSGID / REPLY contained in, a message not originating on that
system.
