Re: MIME message parts from backends (specifically IMAP)

[Steinar Bang <sb@metis.no>]

>>>>> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>:

> Steinar Bang <sb@metis.no> writes:
>> Would it be possible to change the backend interface, to allow access
>> to different parts of multipart messages?

> Since this would be primarily for IMAP, I think it would make more
> sense to do something specifically IMAP'y.  Say, have a way to specify
> that the (mythical) IMAP backend only retrieve text parts of all
> messages by default, and then providing some way of accessing the
> remaining parts through buttons or pseudo-articles.

What I was thinking (and what probably would *really* get Rich's
hackles up :-) ), was that the (mythical) MIME parsing, and support
could be moved out into the backend, and that a uniform way to access
the message parts could be used across backends.

It's just a thought, motivated by a desire to do things in a uniform
way, even if it's less efficient, and complicates some parts.

How could you actually *do* something specifically IMAP'y?  Gnus
doesn't know about anything except the standard backend operations,
does it?


- Steinar