Tickets :: Comment on [#3381] "forward" handles multipart/alternative incorrectly

* Your Email Address
* Spam protection	Enter the letters below: .. .. .. , __. \|\| \|\| \| \./ (__ \__\|\|__\|\|/\\| \| .__)
Comment	> Michael, I think the plan of having a choice between "forward as > message/rfc822" and "forward text and attachments" is a good solution. > > > > I've been supporting mail programs for 12 years but don't know your > own experience, so please forgive me if the following comment is > something you already know: I hope you are aware that sub-parts of > multipart/alternative are not attachments. > > > > This is crucially important, and bears repeating: sub-parts of > multipart/alternative are not attachments. They are alternate > versions of a single source. The "forward text and attachments" > command should only forward one of the sub-parts of the > multipart/alternative bundle. > > > > > > I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time by repeating things that you > already know, but I'd hate to see you spend a lot of time coding a > feature that doesn't addess the core of this bug report. > > > > Multipart/alternative is the core of this report. IMP's current > behavior has two bugs: (1) the "forward" command converts > multipart/alternative into multipart/mixed, and (2) the compose > window allows a user to edit one of the sub-parts without propagating > those changes into the other sub-parts. > > > > 1) Converting multipart/alternative into multipart/mixed violates the > intent of multipart/alternative, because mail clients will > automatically display all subparts of multipart/mixed to the user. > See RFC 2046: "What is most critical, however, is that the user not > automatically be shown multiple versions of the same data." > > > > 2) Editing one body part without editing the others also violates the > intent of multipart/alternative: see RFC 2046: "In particular, each > of the body parts is an "alternative" version of the same > information." > > > > > > Summing up: yes, I like your plan of offering a choice between > "forward as MIME attachment" and "forward text + attachments".
Attachment
Watch this ticket

Saved Queries