
Deprecating the “X-” Prefix and Similar Constructs in Application Protocols - dsr12
https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6648
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rilita
What is the point of "X-" prefixes? To make it clear that the thing in
question is implementation specific and should not be relied on if you want it
to work on all implementations.

Should "X-" things be created? Yes. If the people creating new implementations
can't be bothered to make their changes official, or what those things does
changes, then they use "X-". You should assume "X-" means "don't use this".

Why do the "X-" things persist and get implemented by everyone eventually?
Because bureaucracy and standards groups suck and don't keep up with the
times.

What does a standard group saying "don't use X-" mean? It is just a lame
attempt by the group to stop people from doing things they aren't informed of
or in charge of.

Guess what IETF: The people who care that you said this don't create "X-"
things for the most part. The people who do are just going to ignore this.

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nailer
This makes a lot of sense - either the software is maintained, at which point
the handing of the header (without the prefix) is updated when the spec
changes, or the software is not maintained and broken.

