Re: comments on pgnus-v0.80

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>]

Alexandre Oliva <oliva@dcc.unicamp.br> writes:

> This is a requirement of the RFCs that define MIME: they say the last
> alternate part should be presented by default, since it is supposed to
> be the most appealing one, whereas the first ones are supposed to be
> closer to plain-text, so that MIME-uncapable readers will get to the
> real text before html garbage.

Yup:

5.1.4.  Alternative Subtype

[...]

   Systems should recognize that the content of the various parts are
   interchangeable.  Systems should choose the "best" type based on the
   local environment and references, in some cases even through user
   interaction.  As with "multipart/mixed", the order of body parts is
   significant.  In this case, the alternatives appear in an order of
   increasing faithfulness to the original content.  In general, the
   best choice is the LAST part of a type supported by the recipient
   system's local environment.

Hm.  But Gnus doesn't really respect this.  It only looks on
`mm-alternative-precedence', and ignores the part order.  Er.  Hm.

Gnus could choose the last part it's able to display, but the user
must also be able to say that some types are discouraged.  How about
getting rid of `mm-alternative-precedence', and instead have a
`mm-alternative-discouraged-precedence', that would say in which order 
parts are unwanted.  For instance, if the user says

("text/html" "text/enriched")

then that would mean that text/html is really discouraged, but
"text/enriched" is less discouraged.  If you get my drift.

This variable would default to nil, meaning that the precedence by
default would be the order of the parts.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen