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Re: [Nmh-workers] Conflict between "mime" command and attach

2013-12-12 14:57:04
You pointed out,
http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/nmh-workers/2013-12/msg00038.html,
the two paths, starting with mbuild-directives and attach-headers, take
a long time to converge and interfere.  "mime" runs mhbuild, job done.
"attach" puts in the header which is seen late-on by post(8), and only
then constructs mhbuild-directives and runs mhbuild.

The attach-header is a subset of mhbuild functionality.  My suggestion
to alter attach to append mhbuild-directives to the draft was driven by
trying to merge the two paths earlier and without interference.

Alright, I can understand that, but that tells me that maybe a different
approach is needed.

How about if `#' was configurable and could be multiple characters?  And
that could further be overridden on a per-message basis by an
nmh-header?

Hmm ... that just strikes me as too complicated.  I mean, it just feels
like the wrong thing.

You're suggesting mhbuild runs on the "send".  Does "mime" then
disappear since mhbuild isn't idempotent?  I'd like some way to inspect
the results of my mhbuild-directives before the email hits the wire.
Would that be a send option that feeds mhbuild-output to $PAGER and then
stops?

Well, let me make this alternate proposal:

- "attach" adds Nmh-Attachment headers as per usual.  Maybe we'll add
  something like: "attaching foo.pdf to message as application/pdf" so
  the user can see what MIME type is being used (really, that's all
  I care about).

- You can add or not add mhbuild directives to the message if you want.

- If you add mhbuild directives, you can run "mime" (also, you can run
  "mime" even if you don't). mhbuild will be in charge of processing
  Nmh-Attachment headers.  If there are mhbuild directives, they get
  added per usual; any content specified by Nmh-Attachment headers
  gets appended to the message after all other content.  This is a
  significant change to the _implementation_, but it feels like where
  that functionality should belong.

- If you try to "attach" after a "mime", you get an error.

- send runs "mhbuild -auto -nodirectives".  "-auto" means, "don't error
  out if there's a MIME-Version header, just don't process the draft".
  "-nodirectives" means "don't process directives".  But ... Nmh-Attachment
  headers are still processed.

How does that look?  More code rework, but it feels better.  Also, with this
I think it actually accomplishes what you want (attach + inspection).

--Ken

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