[imp] Charset

[Otto Stolz]

Hello,

Michael M Slusarz <slusarz at horde.org> wrote:
>> Content-Type: text/plain;
>> 	charset="iso-8859-15"
>> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
>    ^^^^^
>
> There's your problem.  The RFC's specifically
> prohibit sending e-mails  
> in 8bit.

Harakiri wote:
> the RFC allows
> sending emails in 8bit within the Multipurpose
> Internet Mail Extensions RFC - 2045 - the older
> standard RFC 822 does not allow it tho.

Rather, it is so:
· The Proposed Standard RFC-2821 obsoletes the standard RFC-821.
· In the RFC-2821 framework, RFC-1652 allows 8-bit transfer
   *only if* the sender has requested it via the EHLO command,
   and the receiver has granted it via a 250 return-code,
   and the 8BITMIME keyword.
· Finally, RFC-2045 defines the Content-Transfer-Encoding
   header to indicate (amongst others) the 8-bit, or binary,
   encoded parts of a mail message.

If a message containing an 8-bit, or binary, encoded part
is sent via a 7-bit transport (i. e. the receiving server
has not granted 8BITMIME), then the outcome is undefined;
e. g. the high-order bits may be chopped off, or even
weirder things may happen.

Above, the Content-Transfer-Encoding header is quoted
(which looks good, if it is indeed followed with unencoded
8-bit such as ISO 8859-1, or UTF-8), but nothing has been
said about the SMTP connection. Imp offers two methods for
the latter: a built-in SMTP client, and a command-line
(sendmail) interface. So, the outcome may well depend on
the Imp configuration (and if the command-line interface
is used, on the underlying SMTP client).

> Nowadays every mailserver is able to handle 8bit.

I would not bet on it.

Berst wishes,
   Otto Stolz