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From: mark@cbosgd.ATT.COM (Mark Horton)
Newsgroups: mod.protocols
Subject: Re: Formatting Query
Message-ID: <8609192126.AA09842@cbosgd.ATT.COM>
Date: Fri, 19-Sep-86 17:26:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbosgd.8609192126.AA09842
Posted: Fri Sep 19 17:26:38 1986
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In article <8609181416.AA15967@SALLY.UTEXAS.EDU> bc@cyb-eng.UUCP writes:
>  If I have software on my end that knows what a tab means within
>  a given context, and if I want to mail this file to someone else
>  whose software is also aware of the context and of the meaning
>  of tabs within that context, I think I should be able to do this
>  without the mailer screwing up the situation.

I think this is the heart of the matter: whether the implementors do
or do not intend it, people use electronic mail to transfer files.

Nobody expects mailers to leave binary files alone, so they use uuencode
or a similar method to make them mailer-safe.  But my experience is that
if a file is plain text (and most people seem to include tabs in this
definition) they don't bother, they just mail it.  No amount of user
education is likely to change this.

From this I conclude that

(1) mailers, including user agents and transfer agents, should leave messages
alone as much as possible when transporting them.

(2) people mailing formatted documents should expand tabs first, or
else be willing to put up with ragged displays if the person they are
sending them to has different tab settings.

(3) Everything is fine currently, except for Multics, which (a) has
unusual tab settings, and (b) expands tabs in the mailer.

	Mark