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Re: [Nmh-workers] exciting new stuff for 2.0

2005-12-22 11:01:12
On 21 December 2005 at 14:08, pmaydell@chiark.greenend.org.uk wrote:
So what exactly are the plans for 2.0?
    ...
* We really need much better support for MIME

This should include fixing the blind-carbon-copy code to make
message bcc's MIME-compliant.  The blind carbon copy has the
really nice (IMO) feature of clearly labeling the bcc message
as a blind copy -- so the recipient can't mistake that the
message wasn't sent visibly to them.  The problem is that the
bcc copy uses the old style of message encapsulation that adds
a dash and a space to the beginning of every line that already
starts with a dash.  This breaks the MIME message horribly --
unless the person who receives the blind copy happens to have
MH or nmh, that is, and can use burst(1) to un-do that format.

I'd suggest that the blind copy should become a multipart/mixed
message with a first part that says something like "This is a
blind copy.  Other recipients can't tell that you've received
this."  (That should be configurable so people can change it,
use a different language, etc.)  The second part of the message
should be the original message as message/rfc822.  Or something.

Jerry

P.S. Here's an example of an original draft with a bcc header
field and the blind copy that someone@somewhere receives:

    From: Jerry Peek <jpeek@jpeek.com>
    To: jpeek@jpeek.com
    bcc: someone@somewhere
    Fcc: inbox
    Subject: Test of MIME bcc
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----- =_aaaaaaaaaa0"
    Content-ID: <2942.1135272227.0@jpeek.com>

    ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
    Content-ID: <2942.1135272227.1@jpeek.com>

    This is the first part...
    -- and here comes the image:

    ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0
    Content-Type: image/gif
    Content-ID: <2942.1135272227.2@jpeek.com>
    Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

    R0lGODlhvAItAOf+AAABAAgKB ...
    SLD8LifJST1ry7zUy73ky77ky4AAADs=

    ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0--

The blind copy looks like this:

    Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:27:07 -0700
    Message-ID: <2953.1135272427@jpeek.com>
    From: Jerry Peek <jpeek@jpeek.com>
    Subject: Test of MIME bcc
    Bcc:

    ------- Blind-Carbon-Copy

    From: Jerry Peek <jpeek@jpeek.com>
    X-Mailer: nmh-1.0
    To: jpeek@jpeek.com
    Subject: Test of MIME bcc
    MIME-Version: 1.0
    Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----- =_aaaaaaaaaa0"
    Content-ID: <2942.1135272227.0@jpeek.com>
    Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 10:27:07 -0700
    Message-ID: <2953.1135272427@jpeek.com>
    Sender: jpeek@jpeek.com

    - ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
    Content-ID: <2942.1135272227.1@jpeek.com>

    This is the first part...
    - -- and here comes the image:

    - ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0
    Content-Type: image/gif
    Content-ID: <2942.1135272227.2@jpeek.com>
    Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

    R0lGODlhvAItAOf+AAABAAgKB ...
    SLD8LifJST1ry7zUy73ky77ky4AAADs=

    - ------- =_aaaaaaaaaa0--

    ------- End of Blind-Carbon-Copy


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