[PROPOSAL] start message values give vector length

[ramsdell@linus.mitre.org (John D. Ramsdell)]

Erik Ostrom <eostrom@research.att.com> writes:

> This proposal makes sense to me if I read it slightly differently.
> By "tag values" do you mean <something like data tags?  Or do you
> just mean that the > suggested length is provided in the "value"
> slot of the argument in the start line?  I.e.,

Sorry for the confusion.  Let me state the proposal again.

I suggest that the value part in a start message line of a key-value
pair for a multiline value suggests the number of lines that make up
the value.  If the value part does not parses as a non-negative
integer, an implementation must proceed without any hint as to the
number of lines it should expect.

>   #$#hello text*: 2 _data-tag: foo
>   #$#* foo text: This is line 1.
>   #$#* foo text: This is line 2.
>   #$#END foo

and so is

>   #$#hello text*: mt _data-tag: foo
>   #$#* foo text: This is line 1.
>   #$#* foo text: This is line 2.
>   #$#END foo

John