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From: Ata@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA ("John G. Ata")
Newsgroups: mod.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Formatting Query
Message-ID: <860916153451.710273@RADC-MULTICS.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 16-Sep-86 11:34:00 EDT
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Posted: Tue Sep 16 11:34:00 1986
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Yes, you are correct...when I said SMTP mailer, I meant the mail
composition program that submits mail to the SMTP mailer.  Sorry for the
confusion.  I strongly believe that mail composition programs, should
for the most part, expand tabs to spaces unless overridden by another
command or control argument.  This is because, in the vast majority of
cases, tabs are used to merely position the next character in a
particular column, so that tab expanding is then the right thing to do
given that there isn't a standard definition of tabstops over the
network.  Of course, for those cases where tabs mean something else, the
user can override this, perhaps with a command/control argument.  The
bottom line is that, in most cases, tabs will be vastly reduced in SMTP
message text.
          As a matter of record, the standard Multics mail system does
not allow tabs at all whether local or network.  Therefore, the mail
program will expand tabs BEFORE submitting to the SMTP mailer, just like
it will expand before submission into another local mailbox.  Given that
tab characters are not allowed in messages, the server SMTP does also
expand tabs to maintain compatability with the rest of the mail system.

                    John G. Ata