[Info-vax] To MIME or not to MIME

[Dave Froble]

On 8/4/2018 4:16 PM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2018-08-04 17:20:28 +0000, Arne Vajhj said:
>
>>> I believe I have mentioned Exchange Server and Postfix once or twice,
>>> and I've mentioned that OpenVMS is not capable of running without a
>>> mail server for many of these mail-related tasks with no provisions
>>> in the default installation for sending and receiving mail from a
>>> remote mail server and a mail server that might well be running
>>> Exchange Server or Postfix or OpenSMTPD or various other choices
>>> here, and I've mentioned my preference for Postfix to that of the
>>> current TCP/IP Services Mail Server,
>>
>> That I don't agree with.
>
> You don't agree with what?
>
> Is OpenVMS able to operate in the default configuration, without a mail
> server configured and running locally, and with routines such as MAIL$
> continuing to work for local and remote?
>
> Because somebody or other around here likely uses that MAIL$ API.
>
> Somebody else undoubtedly uses the MAIL command.
>
> I'm sure of it.
>
>>
>> I believe it is much better to just add a mail library to access
>> remote servers.
>>
>> For native code.
>>
>> Java, Python etc. already have such.
>
> You know, I didn't think I had to mention that.  Wait, I did.  Ah,
> well.  None of that is in the base distro of OpenVMS, and none of that
> allows the more common mail-related operations to work.   As for your
> list of languages, you utterly neglected to mention that both assembler
> and even machine code can be used!   Imagine!  Assembler!  And Machine
> Code!  And you forgot those!  I mean, how DARE you forget that we can
> use organically-sourced artisanal-selected binary bits of the finest
> quality, combined with assembler instructions of architectures past or
> present, and connect — either with home-grown TLS (shudder) or cleartext
> (shudder) or with the OpenSSL (smaller shudder) or some other added TLS
> library (shudder of varying size) — to remote mail servers? I mean, the
> affront!   The horrors!  The omissions!  How could you? How could you
> possibly forget this could be done that way?

He seems to sometimes have that special ability ....