[PHP] HTML email enconding
Hi all, Is it necessary to encode the message using base64 or quoted-printable format while sending the HTML email. What if i don't encode the message i.e (no Content-Transfer-Encoding specified)? Does it impose some security vulnerabilities? Please helpe me out Thanks in advance Binay
Re: [PHP] HTML email enconding
On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 02:56:25PM +0530, Binay wrote: : : Is it necessary to encode the message using base64 or quoted-printable : format while sending the HTML email. Not always. Sometimes you can get away with only: Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit : What if i don't encode the message i.e (no Content-Transfer-Encoding : specified)? Does it impose some security vulnerabilities? These headers just provide more information to the mail client so that it can properly handle and display the message. Some mail clients may be more error-tolerant than others. But really you don't want your messages to be handled and displayed incorrectly. Just as your PHP code should generate HTML-compliant web pages, your code should also generate correctly format email messages. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] HTML email enconding
Hi Eugene, Thanks for quick reply So does it mean that if i don't encode the message then no need of specifying the Content-Transfer-Encoding?? And almost all mail client will interpret it correctly?? Binay - Original Message - From: Eugene Lee [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 3:02 PM Subject: Re: [PHP] HTML email enconding On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 02:56:25PM +0530, Binay wrote: : : Is it necessary to encode the message using base64 or quoted-printable : format while sending the HTML email. Not always. Sometimes you can get away with only: Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit : What if i don't encode the message i.e (no Content-Transfer-Encoding : specified)? Does it impose some security vulnerabilities? These headers just provide more information to the mail client so that it can properly handle and display the message. Some mail clients may be more error-tolerant than others. But really you don't want your messages to be handled and displayed incorrectly. Just as your PHP code should generate HTML-compliant web pages, your code should also generate correctly format email messages. -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] HTML email enconding
On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 03:33:57PM +0530, Binay wrote: : : So does it mean that if i don't encode the message then no need of : specifying the Content-Transfer-Encoding?? : And almost all mail client will interpret it correctly?? No. If your HTML message is guaranteed to be in the ISO-8859-1 range (e.g. only Latin-based languages), then you could likely get away with just these two headers. But you still need to specify both of them. : Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 : Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit You need to follow the various RFCs to generate correct messsages. If you don't have time for that, I suggest you look at existing classes like PEAR's Mail_Mime package that does much of the work for you: http://pear.php.net/package/Mail_Mime -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
Re: [PHP] HTML email enconding
There is a nice function called sendmail available in the comments on php.net/mail. I use that regularly as it inserts all the necessary headers and supports multiple attachments. It's well worth considering... Nathan - Original Message - From: Eugene Lee To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 5:19 AM Subject: Re: [PHP] HTML email enconding On Mon, Nov 24, 2003 at 03:33:57PM +0530, Binay wrote: : : So does it mean that if i don't encode the message then no need of : specifying the Content-Transfer-Encoding?? : And almost all mail client will interpret it correctly?? No. If your HTML message is guaranteed to be in the ISO-8859-1 range (e.g. only Latin-based languages), then you could likely get away with just these two headers. But you still need to specify both of them. : Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 : Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit You need to follow the various RFCs to generate correct messsages. If you don't have time for that, I suggest you look at existing classes like PEAR's Mail_Mime package that does much of the work for you: http://pear.php.net/package/Mail_Mime -- PHP General Mailing List (http://www.php.net/) To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php
