HI,
Almost every time I see the "be liberal..." quote, the context in
which it is said it dropped. I belive the context is MORE IMPORTANT
than the quoted text. The context is achieving interoperability.
Interoperability is more important than any other thing.
Regards,
/david t. perkins
At 04:46 PM 11/01/1999 -0600, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
>Bob,
>
>Jon also signed on to "Be strict when sending and tolerant when
>receiving" which is the version in RFC 1958 (to which he was
>a major contributor, needless to say).
>
> Brian Carpenter
>
>
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>>
>> *> From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun Oct 31 17:32:53 1999
>> *> Date: Sun, 31 Oct 1999 19:32:50 -0600 (CST)
>> *> From: Tim Salo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> *> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> *> Subject: "Be liberal..."
>> *> Content-Length: 925
>> *> X-Lines: 28
>> *>
>> *> Bob Braden,
>> *>
>> *> It seems like I should know the answer to this, but...
>> *>
>> *> In RFC 1122 you quote Jon Postel as saying:
>> *>
>> *> "Be liberal in what you accept, and
>> *> conservative in what you send"
>> *>
>> *> However, in RFC 791 Jon Postel actually said:
>> *>
>> *> "In general, an implementation must be conservative
>> *> in its sending behavior, and liberal in its receiving behavior."
>> *>
>> *> I can't find the RFC 1122 quote in RFC 791. The RFC 1122 language is
>> *> the form that is usually attributed to Jon Postel, but it appears to me
>> *> that this may be either your summary of Jon's words or perhaps quoting
>> *> Jon's spoken, rather than written, words.
>> *>
>> *> Do you have any suggestions about how to best reference "Be liberal..."
>> *> I would like to quote a document edited by Jon, (without intending
>> *> any disrespect for your editorial abilities and accomplishments...).
>> *> Or, are you actually the author of the more concise version of "Be
>> *> liberal..."?
>> *>
>> *> Thanks,
>> *>
>> *> -tjs
>> *>
>>
>> Tim,
>>
>> I am taking the liberty of CCing this message to the ietf list, since
>> the question has arisen several times recently and maybe I can answer it
>> once for all.
>>
>> First of all, the two quotes above are (intended to be) semantically
>> equivalent. Jon was fond of stating the idea, and those involved in
>> the ARPAnet and early Internet research were familiar with his
>> statements. The two quotes do differ in style; the RFC 1122 quote was
>> intended to be closer to what Jon actually SAID, while the RFC 791
>> version was couched in more formal written language. At the time RFC
>> 1122 was published, I checked out the quote with Jon, and he was happy
>> with the shorter form. So either quotation is "authorized".
>>
>> I have recently seen a version that goes something like, "Be
>> conservative in what you do and liberal in what you accept". It seems
>> to me this is not semantically equivalent to the quotes above, since it
>> apparently extends the principle beyond its specific domain of protocol
>> packets into some sort of philosophical doctrine about life and
>> people. I believe that Jon would not have sanctioned such a liberal
>> interpretation.
>>
>> Bob Braden
>
