I apologize for sending three copies of this proposal. The digital signature on the first two was mangled for some reason. The signature on the copy I am responding to here should be clean.
On Saturday, March 15, 2025 11:44:21 AM Mountain Standard Time Soren Stoutner wrote: > ----- BACKGROUND STARTS ----- > > The text of the current mailing list code of conduct states: > > "Wrap your lines at 80 characters or less for ordinary discussion. Lines > longer than 80 characters are acceptable for computer-generated output > (e.g., ls -l)." > https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/ > > There were historical reasons for requiring people to wrap outgoing emails > relating to some older MUAs (Mail User Agents also known as email clients) > not having the ability to wrap the text of incoming emails and some older > screens being limited to an 80 character width. > > These historical reasons no longer apply, as every MUA of which I am aware > now has the ability to wrap incoming lines. > > From a technical perspective, I believe having the sending MUA hard-wrap > lines at a particular column is the incorrect approach because there is no > single line limit that works well on all receiving devices. Many cell phones > have a display width of 40 columns or less, while modern desktops have a > display width of far more than 80 columns. The only system that knows how > big the viewport is where the mail will be displayed is the receiving MUA, so > that is where decisions about line wrapping should be made. > > Having hard line wraps also causes problem with quoted text, where after > multiple replies text will start to break in places that can make some of the > quoted text appear to not be quoted. I am sure that everyone on the mailing > lists has seen emails exhibiting that problem. > > There has is some discussion about this issue on debian-devel beginning at: > > https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/02/msg00302.html > > In that discussion, several people have suggested the use of format=flowed as > a solution. Format=flowed is an RFC that proposes a system for > hard-wrapping text but including special codes that allow a receiving MUA to > unwrap them and then rewrap them to the current viewport. > > https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2646.txt > > Format=flowed never gained wide adoption by the majority of MUAs. Although I > don't have any objections to anyone using it, I don't see it as an > appropriate requirement for communication on the mailing lists or a general > solution to the problems of hard-wrapped text because it doesn't have wide > enough > implementation. > > ----- BACKGROUND ENDS ----- > > > ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS ----- > > It is no longer required that emails sent to or received from official Debian > infrastructure like the mailing lists or the BTS (Bug Tracking System) be > wrapped at any particular column, although users and automated systems may > choose to wrap emails at any column they prefer. Using format=flowed is not > required for emails, but users and automated systems may do so if they like. > The maintainers of the mailing list code of conduct shall update the text > relating to the wrapping of emails at 80 characters to be the following: > > "There is no expectation that emails sent to the mailing lists are wrapped by > the sender at a particular column, but those sending emails may wrap them if > they choose." > > In the future, they may modify the above text of the code of conduct to meet > changing circumstances as long as it does not violate the spirit of this > General Resolution. > > ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS ----- > > -- > Soren Stoutner > so...@debian.org > -- Soren Stoutner so...@debian.org
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