I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt
Internet-Drafts@ietf.org Fri, 28 March 1997 15:35 UTC
Received: from ietf.org by ietf.org id aa19616; 28 Mar 97 10:35 EST
Received: from ietf.ietf.org by ietf.org id aa19480; 28 Mar 97 10:35 EST
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: Multipart/Mixed; Boundary="NextPart"
To: IETF-Announce:;
cc: drums@cs.utk.edu
Sender: ietf-announce-request@ietf.org
From: Internet-Drafts@ietf.org
Reply-to: Internet-Drafts@ietf.org
Subject: I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 10:35:08 -0500
X-Orig-Sender: cclark@ietf.org
Message-ID: <9703281035.aa19480@ietf.org>
A Revised Internet-Draft is available from the on-line Internet-Drafts directories. This draft is a work item of the Detailed Revision/Update of Message Standards Working Group of the IETF. Title : Augmented BNF for Syntax Specifications: ABNF Author(s) : D. Crocker, P. Overell Filename : draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt Pages : 9 Date : 03/26/1997 Internet technical specifications often need to define a format syntax and are free to employ whatever notation their authors deem useful. Over the years, a modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), called Augmented BNF (ABNF), has been popular among many Internet specifications. It balances compactness and simplicity, with reasonable representational power. In the early days of the Arpanet, each specification contained its own definition of ABNF. This included the email specifications, RFC733 and then RFC822 which have come to be the common citations for defining ABNF. The current document separates out that definition, to permit selective reference. Predictably, it also provides some enhancements. The differences between standard BNF and the ABNF defined here involve naming rules, repetition, alternatives, and order-independence, and rules that add alternatives to existing rules, lists, and value ranges. Appendix A (Core) supplies rule definitions for a core lexical analyzer, of the type common to several Internet specifications. It is provided as a convenience and is otherwise separate from the meta language defined in the body of this document, and its formal status. Internet-Drafts are available by anonymous FTP. Login with the username "anonymous" and a password of your e-mail address. After logging in, type "cd internet-drafts" and then "get draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt". A URL for the Internet-Draft is: ftp://ds.internic.net/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt Internet-Drafts directories are located at: o Africa: ftp.is.co.za o Europe: ftp.nordu.net ftp.nis.garr.it o Pacific Rim: munnari.oz.au o US East Coast: ds.internic.net o US West Coast: ftp.isi.edu Internet-Drafts are also available by mail. Send a message to: mailserv@ds.internic.net. In the body type: "FILE /internet-drafts/draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt". NOTE: The mail server at ds.internic.net can return the document in MIME-encoded form by using the "mpack" utility. To use this feature, insert the command "ENCODING mime" before the "FILE" command. To decode the response(s), you will need "munpack" or a MIME-compliant mail reader. Different MIME-compliant mail readers exhibit different behavior, especially when dealing with "multipart" MIME messages (i.e., documents which have been split up into multiple messages), so check your local documentation on how to manipulate these messages. Below is the data which will enable a MIME compliant mail reader implementation to automatically retrieve the ASCII version of the Internet-Draft.
- I-D ACTION:draft-ietf-drums-abnf-02.txt Internet-Drafts