On Fri, Dec 29, 2023 at 01:46:47PM -0500, John Levine via Postfix-users wrote:
> It appears that Phil Biggs via Postfix-users <mb170...@pjb.cc> said:
> >Where do see the "mandatory" requirement?
> >
> >Section 4.1.1.8 says:
> >
> > SMTP servers SHOULD support HELP without arguments and MAY support it
> > with arguments.
>
> SHOULD is IETF-ese for you have to, except that there might be reasons
> not to do it but you better be sure you understand the implications.
I wouldn't go that far as saying "you have to". It's certainly not
the "absolute requirement" of a MUST.
And in the case of something like the SMTP HELP command, which is only
useful for humans connecting to the server (RFC 5321, section 4.2.2,
"this reply is useful only to the human user), I'd argue that the
implications of not implementing the HELP command is... not all that
great. So, I'd call it a very weak "SHOULD".
Of course, implementing a HELP command is also not much work, so why
not? Of course, RFC 5321 only says, "helpful information" without any
further details, so it would be perfectly legitmate for it to return
the current value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or number of
hours until the next World Cup game --- that's "useful", right? :-)
- Ted
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