#3135: cannot stop header wrap/folding; wrapping ignores user $wrap setting
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Reporter: idallen | Owner: pdmef
Type: defect | Status: started
Priority: minor | Milestone: 1.6
Component: mutt | Version: 1.5.18
Resolution: | Keywords: wrap header fold folding terminal width
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Comment(by idallen):
> For the sending case you can't disable wrapping. Mutt is just
> following standards (see RfC2822, sect. 2.1.1, Line Length Limits)
> which recommends using at most 78 chars plus CRLF... which is what
> mutt is doing.
The RFC says only that lines "SHOULD be no more than 78 characters".
Mutt must not treat RFC "SHOULD" clauses as though they were "MUST"
clauses. The intent of RFC "SHOULD" clauses is to permit people who have
"valid reasons" to over-ride them:
{{{
http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2119
3. SHOULD: This word, or the adjective "RECOMMENDED", mean that there
may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore
a particular item, but the full implications must be understood
and carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
}}}
Mutt must not presume to know my email better than I do. If I ask to
over-ride the 78-character "SHOULD" clause, mutt MUST let me do it.
I might tolerate an optional mutt feature that wrapped the header
lines at 78, if mutt actually guaranteed producing a 78-character-line,
RFC-"SHOULD"-compliant message by doing so, but mutt doesn't guarantee
anything close to that.
If mutt were following standards by enforcing the line-length "SHOULD"
clause of the RFC, mutt SHOULD not permit *any* lines in the entire
message to be longer than 78. The RFC 78-character-limit recommendation
doesn't apply only to the header lines; it applies to *all* the lines
in the message, including the message body lines. The RFC makes no
distinction between header lines and body lines as far as the line-length
"SHOULD" clause goes - the 78-character limit applies equally to both.
Since mutt trivially lets me over-ride the 78-character length clause
in the RFC by sending a message with body lines longer than 78, why am
I not allowed to violate the same clause by sending header lines longer
than 78? Saying "mutt is just following standards" isn't accurate.
Mutt MUST let me generate long header lines, for two reasons:
1. Since mutt lets me write long body lines, it must also let me write
long header lines, if I ask for it. They are both covered by the same
RFC.
2. Mutt has no authority to treat RFC "SHOULD" clauses as "MUST" clauses.
Mutt must not presume to know my email better than I do.
--
Ticket URL: <http://dev.mutt.org/trac/ticket/3135#comment:10>
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