Re: missing Mime-Version and format=flowed

[Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com>]

Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes:

> Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:
>
>> Reiner Steib <4.uce.03.r.s@nurfuerspam.de> writes:
>>
>>> On Fri, Aug 06 2004, Katsumi Yamaoka wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm using the value t for the gnus-article-loose-mime variable
>>>> and I can see those articles correctly.
>>>
>>> Thanks.  I should have checked the Fine Manual for `MIME-Version'. ;-)
>>>
>>> ,----[ (info "(gnus)MIME Commands") ]
>>> | `gnus-article-loose-mime'
>>> |      If non-`nil', Gnus won't require the `MIME-Version' header before
>>> |      interpreting the message as a MIME message.  This helps when
>>> |      reading messages from certain broken mail user agents.  The
>>> |      default is `nil'.
>>> `----
>>
>> What harm would there be if the default for this variable was `t'?
>
> And why would anyone set it to nil?  
>
> Maybe Gnus could do with one less variable, and obey the "be liberal in
> what you accept" maxim.

If the header IS present, and doesn't contain "1.0", it might make
sense to actually not invoke the current MIME code, though.

Hm.

It seems Gnus doesn't check the MIME version number in that header
now.  It just check for presence of the header (unless g-a-l-m is
set).  'MIME-Version: 42' would appear to be equally acceptable.

The horror!

I've changed the default now, speak up or revert if you don't like it.

All code relating to this ("loose-mime", "strict-mime"), during
decoding, actually make reading the code harder.  FWIW, I wouldn't
oppose removing the variable altogether.  Doing so would acknowledge
that the header is useless in practice.

Encoding is an entirely different creature, of course.