Re: Problem with gnus-output-to-mail in gnus-util.el

[Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com>]

CHENG Gao <chenggao@gmail.com> writes:

> I found a problem with latest No Gnus.
>
> Any "From" at the beginning of a line will have a ">" inserted when
> posted.

It shouldn't have.

> I found it's owing to code in gnus-output-to-mail in
> gnus-util.el:
> line 937-940:
>
> (let (case-fold-search)
> 	(while (re-search-forward "^From " nil t)
> 	  (beginning-of-line)
> 	  (insert ">")))
>
> I just wonder why this code exists. Is it intended or it's a bug?

That function is used when storing the message in a mbox file.  The
mbox file format uses ^From for internal purposes, so any such lines
must be escaped.

I think we should make sure Gnus does not escape From into >From
unless it is absolutely necessary (like when storing a message into a
mbox file).  In some mail environments ^From actually work, and then
it would bad annoying if Gnus alter such messages.

Note that it might be your server that escape this.  Use tcpdump to
determine whether it is Gnus or the server that add the >.