reopen 95975
thanks
> Package: mutt
> Version: 1.3.15-2
> Since upgrading to testing, mutt refuses to display iso-8859-1
> high-bit characters such as u-umlaut (ü). Instead, \374 is displayed.
>
> :set charset shows charset="iso-8859-1"; the message's Content-Type
> is:
>
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> so that shouldn't be the problem. Hitting 'v' and then piping the
> message body through 'cat' displays it all correctly.
>> RTFM README.Debian.
Thanks for this eloquent explanation.
So I should now set en environment variable to get mutt working the way
it used to, which was a "reasonable" mode of operation. IMHO that's in
violation of policy section 10.9:
A program must not depend on environment variables
to get reasonable defaults.
So what's the point of the charset setting? After all, the manual.txt
(which isn't a plain text file, but that's beside the point for this
discussion) still states:
6.3.20. charset
Type: string
Default: ""
Character set your terminal uses to display and enter textual data.
Obviously it doesn't work that way anymore! So don't say I should read
the FM, I F did. README.Debian is NOT a manual. manual.txt is.
So fix the FM if the way it works has changed. Perhaps even give an
error if charset is defined, as it apparently isn't used anymore.
Paul Slootman
