[ebxml-msg] MIME prolog, epilog issue

[Matthew MacKenzie <matt@xmlglobal.com>]

Group:

I've recently come across an issue where a prolog is included in an  
ebxml message.  I believe that MIME allows this, mostly for the benefit  
of ancient mail user agents.  Should an ebXML MSH send/accept prologs  
or epilogs?

It's my opinion that in this context a prolog is really not  
appropriate, and I would like to see the specification specifically  
forbid it.

An example (part of a message I received recently):

mime-version: 2.0
content-type: multipart/related; boundary="=_3DB3E4F8.506E8220_="
cookie: a=4
soapaction: ebXML
content-length: 3590

This message is MIME format. Since your mail reader does not
understand this format, some or all of this message may
not be legible.
--=_3DB3E4F8.506E8220_=
Content-ID: <20021021-122855-47@perwill.com-0>
Content-Transfer-Encoding: ClearText
Content-Type: text/xml
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="SOAP.xml"

<SOAP:Envelope xmlns:SOAP="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/";  
xmlns:eb="
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/ebxml-msg/schema/msg-header- 
2_0.xsd"  xmlns
:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink";><SOAP:Header><eb:MessageHeader  
SOAP:mustUn
derstand="1" eb:version="2.0" ><eb:From><eb:PartyId   
eb:type="http://www.iso.int
/schemas/eanucc/gln" >5060004470006</eb:PartyId>
<eb:Role>http://www.ean-ucc.org/roles/buyer</eb:Role>
</eb:From>
...