Raul Vera wrote: >>> >>>Word wrapping cannot be disabled. [...] See RFC 822 >>> [...] > >[...] RFC 822 [...] says that long _header_ >lines _may_ be folded, but explicitly says that the format of the >_content_ of a message is not covered. [...] Of course, a more recent RFC might have >something else to say (822 is from 1982). >
The relevant RFC is actually 2822, which is intended to supercede 822 but is still a proposed internet standard, not a standard. It states that content lines SHOULD (their caps) be wrapped at 78 characters, to avoid display problems. This strikes me as wrong, as it is automatic wrapping that often _causes_ display problems. I much prefer the approach in RFC 2646 (also a proposed internet standard), which adds a completely backward-compatible format=flowed parameter to the text/plain MIME type, inserting soft wrapping that looks like hard wrapping to non-conforming clients but allows conforming clients to rewrap on display. Among its wrapping-for-display rules it suggests that single words that exceed the wrapping length _not_ be cut. This would seem to be a much more appropriate policy for a URL, even while hard wrapping per RFC 2822. So I would request that CTM do the following: -) Never wrap except at white space, even if single "words" exceed 78 characters, because wrapping isn't required and is done only for display reasons. Cutting long words, which are almost invariably URLs, doesn't improve their display, and usually breaks them. This will fix most, but not all, URLs broken by wrapping. -) Allow user control over wrapping, with separate controls over typed text, forwards, and quotations. The defaults would reflect the current behaviour. -) Implement RFC 2646. In fact, given that Powermail is attempting to avoid multi-media bloat and remain a really fast and lightweight plain-text mailer, I think it is particularly important that the handling of plain text be as powerful as possible. RFC 2646 looks to me to be a very good fit. Raúl P.S. www.rfc-editor.org is the official RFC site. -- Raúl Vera Director Orbit 3 Pty Ltd 8 Coneill Place NSW 2037 Australia
