rmail-enable-mime

rmail-enable-mime

[Luc Teirlinck]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

    > Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2003 00:40:34 +0200 (CEST)
    > From: Alexander Pohoyda <alexander.pohoyda@gmx.net>
    >
    > I just found out that if rmail-enable-mime is set, you cannot save a
    > message to file.

    That variable is not supposed to be set by humans.  See my other mail
    for more info.

Maybe this has already been pointed out before (this appears to have
been discussed several places) and I missed it, but the obvious
conclusion of the above statement is that, if this variable is kept at
all, the defcustom for it should be replaced by a defvar.  (Unless I
misunderstood the statement above.)

Sincerely,

Luc.

Re: rmail-enable-mime

[Luc Teirlinck]

>From my previous message:

   the obvious conclusion of the above statement is that, if this
   variable is kept at all, the defcustom for it should be replaced by
   a defvar.

On the other hand, from the documentation string:

  "*If non-nil, RMAIL uses MIME feature.
If the value is t, RMAIL automatically shows MIME decoded message.
If the value is neither t nor nil, RMAIL does not show MIME decoded message
until a user explicitly requires it."

This makes it seem that this is _really meant_ as a user option.
However setting the variable not only does nothing useful, but
actually causes trouble, as Alexander pointed out.  The documentation
string also suggests that (require 'mime), or maybe (require 'MIME),
or maybe something else that the user is just not smart enough to
think about, is supposed to enable mime support and make this variable
"work".  Regardless of whether the defcustom gets replaced by a
defvar, _if_ the variable is kept at all, should the documentation
string not contain a warning style:

  "*If non-nil, RMAIL uses MIME feature, if available.  
This variable only takes effect if you use some add-on package that
knows how to handle it it.  The feature MIME will only be defined if
you use such a package.  Do not set this variable to a non-nil value
if you are not using such a package, as this might cause trouble.

When using a proper add-on package, if the value is t, RMAIL
automatically shows MIME decoded message.  If the value is neither t
nor nil, RMAIL does not show MIME decoded message until a user
explicitly requires it."

The above is not really meant as a _literal_ suggestion, since I do
not really know the situation behind this variable well enough to
properly rewrite the documentation string in full detail.

Sincerely,

Luc.

Re: rmail-enable-mime

[Alexander Pohoyda]

>    the obvious conclusion of the above statement is that, if this
>    variable is kept at all, the defcustom for it should be replaced by
>    a defvar.

I think that we should delete this variable in the future. If the
message is MIME-encoded, there is no reason not to view it that way
if the mail client supports MIME.


-- 
Alexander Pohoyda <alexander.pohoyda@gmx.net>
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