REFLECTOR: .dat attachments for people who send html

[Brian Michalk]

A while back some people were complaining about all of the attachments that
come through, only to find it's generic bit of text.  I had a private email
with a person about why it happens, but I thought I'd post it here before
someone else asked about it.

This link talks about the problem:
http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2003-August/031290.html
It says HTML is structured, so the appended footer has to go somewhere
outside of the HTML body.

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2003-August/031291.html
Says that if the mail program modifies the HTML in place, then PGP
signatures will be broken ... a security problem.

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2003-August/031292.html
Says, let's make it a multipart section.

http://mail.python.org/pipermail/mailman-users/2003-August/031296.html
Says ... This is what the mail program already does, except Outlook (the
recieving) one is buggy and doesn't handle the multipart message correctly,
so it just makes it an attachment.

There are several solutions to the problem:
1) Ignore it.
2) Upgrade to a mail reader that correctly parses multipart.
3) Force all messages to be plain text on the reflector.


 Brian Michalk  <http://www.awpi.com/michalk>
Life is what you make of it ... never wish you had done something.
Aviator, experimental aircraft builder, motorcyclist, SCUBA diver
musician, home-brewer, entrepreneur and barely single.