Network Working Group                                         P. Hoffman
Request for Comments: 2987                      Internet Mail Consortium
Category: Standards Track                                  November 2000


      Registration of Charset and Languages Media Features Tags

Status of this Memo

  This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
  Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
  improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
  Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
  and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.


Abstract

  This document contains the registration for two media feature tags:
  "charset" and "language".  These media features allow specification
  of character sets and human languages that can be understood by
  devices and the devices' users.  The templates in this document are
  derived from RFC 2506.

1. Registration for charset

  To: [email protected] (Media feature tags mailing list)
  Subject: Registration of media feature tag charset

  Media feature tag name:
     charset

  ASN.1 identifier associated with feature tag:
     1.3.6.1.8.1.31

  Summary of the media feature indicated by this feature tag:
     Ability to display particular charsets as defined in [CHARSET].
          For most devices, this media feature is usually a capability;
          that is, most devices cannot intelligently process text in a
          charset that is unknown to the device.







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RFC 2987       Charset and Languages Media Features Tags   November 2000


  Values appropriate for use with this feature tag:
     The values are tokens as defined in [CHARSET].  The values can
          only be compared for equality.  Comparison is not case
          sensitive.

  The feature tag is intended primarily for use in the following
  applications, protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms:
      Any protocol that uses media tags

  Examples of typical use:
     (| (charset=utf-8);q=1.0 (charset=iso-8859-1);q=0.9
        (charset=utf-16);q=0.5 )

  Related standards or documents:
     "IANA Charset Registration Procedures", RFC 2978

  Considerations particular to use in individual applications,
  protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms:
     None

  Interoperability considerations: Aliases for charsets should not be
          used in media feature expressions because feature expression
          manipulation tools may convert aliases to the the principal
          name for the charset.  Even though charset names are not
          case-sensitive, values should be expressed as all lowercase
          letters to increase the likelihood of interoperability.  The
          "charset" capability should always be indicated in
          conjunction with any capability to handle textual data.

  Security considerations:
     If it is known that there is a security bug in the display of a
     particular charset in a particular environment, knowing that a
     device can accept that charset may slightly help an attacker.

  Additional information:
     None

  Name(s) & email address(es) of person(s) to contact for further
     information:
     Paul Hoffman <[email protected]>

  Intended usage:
     COMMON

  Author/Change controller:
     IETF





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RFC 2987       Charset and Languages Media Features Tags   November 2000


  Requested IANA publication delay:
     None

  Other information:
     None

2. Registration for language

  To: [email protected] (Media feature tags mailing list)
  Subject: Registration of media feature tag language

  Media feature tag name:
     language

  ASN.1 identifier associated with feature tag:
     1.3.6.1.8.1.32

  Summary of the media feature indicated by this feature tag:  Ability
     to display particular human languages as defined in [LANG].  Note
     that "display" in this case will most often mean speech by a
     computer.  For most devices, this media feature is a preference,
     not a requirement.

  Values appropriate for use with this feature tag:
     The values are tokens, with allowable values defined by
          registration as defined in [LANG].  The values can only be
          compared for equality.  As described in [LANG], language tags
          are always handled as a single token, and "subtags" are not
          used for comparison.  Comparison is not case sensitive.

  The feature tag is intended primarily for use in the following
  applications, protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms:
      Any protocol that uses media tags

  Examples of typical use:
     (| (language=no-nynorsk);q=1.0 (language=no-bokmaal);q=0.9
        (language=i-sami-no);q=0.5 )

  Related standards or documents:
     "Tags for the Identification of Languages", RFC 1766

  Considerations particular to use in individual applications,
  protocols, services, or negotiation mechanisms:
     None







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RFC 2987       Charset and Languages Media Features Tags   November 2000


  Interoperability considerations:
     Even though language tags are not case-sensitive, values should be
          expressed as all lowercase letters to increase the likelihood
          of interoperability.

  Security considerations:
     If it is known that there is a security bug in the display of a
     particular language in a particular environment, knowing that a
     device can accept that language may slightly help an attacker.

  Additional information:
     None

  Name(s) & email address(es) of person(s) to contact for further
  information:
     Paul Hoffman <[email protected]>

  Intended usage:
     COMMON

  Author/Change controller:
      IETF

  Requested IANA publication delay:
      None

  Other information:
      None

3. Security Considerations

  The security considerations are listed in the two registrations above.

4. IANA Considerations

  The bulk of this document is IANA registrations.

5. References

  [CHARSET] Freed, N. and J. Postel, "IANA Charset Registration
            Procedures", BCP 19, RFC 2978, October 2000.

  [LANG]    Alvestrand, H., "Tags for the Identification of Languages",
            RFC 1766, March 1995.

  [TAG-REG] Holtman, K., Mutz, A. and T. Hardie, "Media Feature Tag
            Registration Procedure", BCP 31, RFC 2506, March 1999.




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RFC 2987       Charset and Languages Media Features Tags   November 2000


6. Author's Address

  Paul Hoffman
  Internet Mail Consortium
  127 Segre Place
  Santa Cruz, CA  95060 USA

  EMail: [email protected]











































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RFC 2987       Charset and Languages Media Features Tags   November 2000


7.  Full Copyright Statement

  Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000).  All Rights Reserved.

  This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to
  others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
  or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
  and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
  kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
  included on all such copies and derivative works.  However, this
  document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing
  the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other
  Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of
  developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for
  copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be
  followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than
  English.

  The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
  revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

  This document and the information contained herein is provided on an
  "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING
  TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING
  BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION
  HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
  MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Acknowledgement

  Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
  Internet Society.



















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