6.2.  Semantics ........................................   27
         6.3.  Reserved Address .................................   33

     7.  BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................   34


                             APPENDIX

     A.  EXAMPLES ...............................................   36
     B.  SIMPLE FIELD PARSING ...................................   40
     C.  DIFFERENCES FROM RFC #733 ..............................   41
     D.  ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF SYNTAX RULES ...................   44


     August 13, 1982               - i -                      RFC #822
 


 
     Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages


                                  PREFACE


          By 1977, the Arpanet employed several informal standards for
     the  text  messages (mail) sent among its host computers.  It was
     felt necessary to codify these practices and  provide  for  those
     features  that  seemed  imminent.   The result of that effort was
     Request for Comments (RFC) #733, "Standard for the Format of ARPA
     Network Text Message", by Crocker, Vittal, Pogran, and Henderson.
     The specification attempted to avoid major  changes  in  existing
     software, while permitting several new features.

          This document revises the specifications  in  RFC  #733,  in
     order  to  serve  the  needs  of the larger and more complex ARPA
     Internet.  Some of RFC #733's features failed  to  gain  adequate
     acceptance.   In  order to simplify the standard and the software
     that follows it, these features have been removed.   A  different
     addressing  scheme  is  used, to handle the case of inter-network
     mail; and the concept of re-transmission has been introduced.

          This specification is intended for use in the ARPA Internet.
     However, an attempt has been made to free it of any dependence on
     that environment, so that it can be applied to other network text
     message systems.

          The specification of RFC #733 took place over the course  of
     one  year, using the ARPANET mail environment, itself, to provide
     an on-going forum for discussing the capabilities to be included.
     More  than  twenty individuals, from across the country, partici-
     pated in  the  original  discussion.   The  development  of  this
     revised specification has, similarly, utilized network mail-based
     group discussion.  Both specification efforts  greatly  benefited
     from the comments and ideas of the participants.

          The syntax of the standard,  in  RFC  #733,  was  originally
     specified  in  the  Backus-Naur Form (BNF) meta-language.  Ken L.
     Harrenstien, of SRI International, was responsible for  re-coding
     the  BNF  into  an  augmented  BNF  that makes the representation
     smaller and easier to understand.












     August 13, 1982              - ii -                      RFC #822
 

 
     Standard for ARPA Internet Text Messages


     1.  INTRODUCTION

     1.1.  SCOPE

          This standard specifies a syntax for text messages that  are
     sent  among  computer  users, within the framework of "electronic
     mail".  The standard supersedes  the  one  specified  in  ARPANET
     Request  for Comments #733, "Standard for the Format of ARPA Net-
     work Text Messages".

          In this context, messages are viewed as having  an  envelope
     and  contents.   The  envelope  contains  whatever information is
     needed to accomplish transmission  and  delivery.   The  contents
     compose  the object to be delivered to the recipient.  This stan-
     dard applies only to the format and some of the semantics of mes-
     sage  contents.   It contains no specification of the information
     in the envelope.

          However, some message systems may use information  from  the
     contents  to create the envelope.  It is intended that this stan-