Re: mhfixmsg character set conversion

[David Levine]

Ralph wrote:

> Well, I think it is a good idea and that's probably why it was
> permitted.  I don't recall precisely, and don't have time to check, but
> I think the RFC even recommends it.

RFC 2047 § 5.  RFC 2231 makes it even more interesting.

> I'm rusty, but my recollection is things like ‘forw -mime’ and dist(1)
> assume ~/mail/inbox/42 is in a valid format to ship and don't do any
> checks or conversions.  mhfixmsg(1) repeatedly mentions RFC violations
> in some of its possible outputs.

The switch, -decodeheaderfieldbodies, under the microscope here is not
enabled by default for that reason.

> So having searched and found it, don't send it on.  :-)

Very good advice.  Another good reason to retain the unmodified message.

David