RfC3676 requires that in addition to lines starting with space or From_ line starting with > have to be space-stuffed, too. However, when reading in a message for space-stuffing, there's no safe way to distinguish between quote and non-quote lines.
The code ignores >-lines already, so document it that it's up to the user to take care. --- doc/manual.xml.head | 25 +++++++++++++++++++++---- 1 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/doc/manual.xml.head b/doc/manual.xml.head index 8e9624c..f5bad9e 100644 --- a/doc/manual.xml.head +++ b/doc/manual.xml.head @@ -1243,10 +1243,27 @@ before calling the editor). After editing the initial message text and before entering the compose menu, mutt properly space-stuffes the message. <emphasis>Space-stuffing</emphasis> is required by RfC3676 defining -<literal>format=flowed</literal> and means to prepend a space to all -lines starting with a space and lines starting with the word -<literal>From</literal> (followed by space). All leading spaces are to -be removed by receiving clients to restore the original message. +<literal>format=flowed</literal> and means to prepend a space to: +</para> + +<itemizedlist> +<listitem><para>all lines starting with a space</para></listitem> +<listitem><para>lines starting with the word ``<literal>From</literal>'' +followed by space</para></listitem> +<listitem><para>all lines starting with ``<literal>></literal>'' which +is not intended to be a quote character</para></listitem> +</itemizedlist> + +<para> +All leading spaces are to be removed by receiving clients to restore +the original message. +</para> + +<para> +<emphasis role="bold">Note</emphasis> that mutt only support space-stuffing +for the first two types of lines but not for the third: It is impossible to +safely detect whether a leading <literal>></literal> character starts a +quote or not. </para> </sect3> -- 1.5.0.rc4.g0f5c
