Another (Vista?) email aberration

I have posted a recently-encountered problem with reading emails in
mutt. The problem, at worst, was a minor irritation. This one is not -
especially if it is a foretaste of things to come.

I have a regular correspondent in the US who has recently upgraded to
Vista. His emails arrive in 2 versions - plain text and html.

The html version is perfectly readable in mutt (thanks to an entry in my
..mailcap file) as long as it contains no lengthy quotes from previous
emails.

The "plain text" version arrives unformatted, but both mutt and my
composer (vim) know how to make it readable.

The problem comes with the handling of quotes from previous mails. The
sending program regards these as a single paragraph and concatenates them
into one long line. Neither mutt nor vim can handle this mess.

Hopefully this is a peculiarity in the sender's setup. I thought it worth
flagging with this NG, just in case it is not.

A sample of the mess is attached for inspection:

a) Full Header
-------------
From felixk Sat Apr 28 09:49:16 2007
Return-Path: <johnfrum@optonline.net>
Delivered-To: fm_27.ka@iinet.net.au
Received: from mail.iinet.net.au [203.0.178.192] by localhost with POP3 (fetchmail-6.2.5) for felixk@localhost (single-drop); Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:49:16 +1000 (EST)
Received: (qmail 20108 invoked by alias); 27 Apr 2007 23:45:48 -0000
Delivered-To: fm_27.ka@webone.com.au
Received: (qmail 19803 invoked from network); 27 Apr 2007 23:45:42 -0000
Received: from unknown (HELO webmail.icp-qv1-irony3.iinet.net.au) ([203.59.1.108]) (envelope-sender <johnfrum@optonline.net>) by mail.iinet.net.au (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for <fm_27.ka@webone.com.au>; 27 Apr 2007 23:45:42 -0000
Received: from mta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net ([167.206.4.196]) by webmail.icp-qv1-irony3.iinet.net.au with ESMTP; 28 Apr 2007 07:45:42 +0800
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Filtered: true
X-IronPort-Anti-Spam-Result: Ao8CABUoMkanzgTEfGdsb2JhbACBaWg3jAt+AgkMCQYW
X-IronPort-AV: i="4.14,463,1170604800"; d="scan'208"; a="1155490855:sNHT37766544"
Received: from optonline.net (mstr5a.srv.hcvlny.cv.net [10.240.4.144]) by mta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTP id <0JH60078SKO32570@mta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net> for fm_27.ka@webone.com.au; Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:45:39 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from [10.240.3.215] (Forwarded-For: 68.193.243.199, [10.240.3.215]) by mstr5.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (mshttpd); Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:45:39 +0000 (GMT)
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2007 23:45:39 +0000 (GMT)
From: johnfrum@optonline.net
Subject: Re: Garbled emails - 90% solved
In-reply-to: <20070427220919.GI21940@carrot.cabbagepatch>
To: Felix Karpfen <fm_27.ka@webone.com.au>
Message-id: <e2c39492186ae.46328b23@optonline.net>
MIME-version: 1.0
X-Mailer: Sun Java(tm) System Messenger Express 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)
Content-type: multipart/alternative; boundary="Boundary_(ID_8rum9XbUhfwgfVuvq2YZXQ)"
Content-language: en
X-Accept-Language: en
Priority: normal
References: <e348940b17bce.462ea273@optonline.net> <20070426004707.GA20514@carrot.cabbagepatch> <e1c0bd341fb9c.4630030c@optonline.net> <20070426212749.GD21940@carrot.cabbagepatch> <e3a3afab19b0f.46312993@optonline.net> <20070427220919.GI21940@carrot.cabbagepatch>
X-Bogosity: Ham, tests=bogofilter, spamicity=0.000000, version=0.94.4
Status: RO
X-Status: A
Content-Length: 3264
Lines: 54
X-Evolution: 00000118-0000

b) Plain Text version - as displayed by Mutt
--------------------------------------------

----- Original Message -----From: Felix Karpfen*Date: Friday, April 27, 2007 6:09 pmSubject: Re: Garbled
+emails*- 90% solvedTo: johnfrum@optonline.net> * johnfrum@optonline.net [27.04.07 08:37]:> > > I have no
+earthly idea what is happening, but it ain't good.> > This is the second reply.> > It ought to be completely
+readable.> > And if you want to know what is happening, try the following > experiment[I hope that it is
+doable in Vista :-)].> > Open your web-browser and select one page. Copy it and paste it > into a> plain text
+editor - if such a thing as a plain text editor exist.n> Vista.> > The result will be that each paragraph of
+the html*text becomes a> single line in your text editor.> > At least that is what happens here.> > Good
+luck.> > Felix> -- > Felix Karpfen> Public Key 72FDF9DF*(DH/DSA)>So what it's doing*is taking out all the
+formatting appurtenances?No wonder you've been going nuts.Barry

c) html version as displayed in Mutt (with the help of .mailcap)
---------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: Felix Karpfen
Date: Friday, April 27, 2007 6:09 pm
Subject: Re: Garbled emails - 90% solved
To: johnfrum@optonline.net

> * johnfrum@optonline.net [27.04.07 08:37]:
>
> > I have no earthly idea what is happening, but it ain't good.
>
> This is the second reply.
>
> It ought to be completely readable.
>
> And if you want to know what is happening, try the following
> experiment[I hope that it is doable in Vista :-)].
>
> Open your web-browser and select one page. Copy it and paste it
> into a
> plain text editor - if such a thing as a plain text editor exist in
> Vista.
>
> The result will be that each paragraph of the html text becomes a
> single line in your text editor.
>
> At least that is what happens here.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Felix
> --
> Felix Karpfen
> Public Key 72FDF9DF (DH/DSA)
>

So what it's doing is taking out all the formatting appurtenances?

No wonder you've been going nuts.

Barry
-------------end of quotes ---------------

Felix Karpfen
--
Felix Karpfen
Public Key 72FDF9DF (DH/DSA)

Hello Felix,

On Monday, April 30, 2007 at 6:34:55 +1000, Felix Karpfen wrote:

>| Received: from optonline.net (mstr5a.srv.hcvlny.cv.net [10.240.4.144])
>| by mta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006))
[...]
>| X-Mailer: Sun Java(tm) System Messenger Express 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)

This Sun Java mail suite suffers from a bad and non-robust
conception. The Messenger Express sends garbage, while the
Messaging Server damages transported mails... IMHO it should not be used
for any serious work. Unfortunately it has some shiny features, is
"hype", and gets installed by more and more ISPs.


Bye! Alain.
--
Hotmail users break umlauts for everyone else on a mailing list!
They should stop doing so immediately!
«*MSN considered HARMFUL*» PCC CB on MU. © June 2002

On Thu, 03 May 2007 10:26:02 +0200, Alain Bench wrote
(<slrnf3j74q.4qp.albench.NOSP@M.oreka.invalid>):

> Hello Felix,
>
> On Monday, April 30, 2007 at 6:34:55 +1000, Felix Karpfen wrote:
>
>>| Received: from optonline.net (mstr5a.srv.hcvlny.cv.net [10.240.4.144])
>>| by mta1.srv.hcvlny.cv.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006))
> [...]
>>| X-Mailer: Sun Java(tm) System Messenger Express 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)
>
> This Sun Java mail suite suffers from a bad and non-robust
> conception. The Messenger Express sends garbage, while the
> Messaging Server damages transported mails... IMHO it should not be used
> for any serious work. Unfortunately it has some shiny features, is
> "hype", and gets installed by more and more ISPs.
>
Thank you.

I propose to forward this information to the guilty party. It has caused a
lot of grief at the receiving end.

Felix

--
Felix Karpfen
Public Key 72FDF9DF (DH/DSA)

In article <pan.2007.04.28.23.38.17.175847@webone.com.au>,
Felix Karpfen <felix@spodzone.org.uk> wrote:
>I have posted a recently-encountered problem with reading emails in
>mutt. The problem, at worst, was a minor irritation. This one is not -
>especially if it is a foretaste of things to come.
>
>I have a regular correspondent in the US who has recently upgraded to
>Vista. His emails arrive in 2 versions - plain text and html.
>
>The html version is perfectly readable in mutt (thanks to an entry in my
>.mailcap file
Please (for at least *some* of the rest of us) show (and describe?)
that (clever) entry in your mailcap file.
Thanks!

) as long as it contains no lengthy quotes from previous
>emails.
>
>The "plain text" version arrives unformatted, but both mutt and my
>composer (vim) know how to make it readable.

Please also explain what you did (and why) to mutt and/or vim
to make *this* stuff readable.

Plus whatever discussion you'd like to add.

THANKS!

David

On Fri, 25 May 2007 16:27:09 +0000, David Combs wrote
(<f372os$h7v$1@reader2.panix.com>):

> In article <pan.2007.04.28.23.38.17.175847@webone.com.au>,
> Felix Karpfen <felix@spodzone.org.uk> wrote:
>>
>>The html version is perfectly readable in mutt (thanks to an entry in my
>>.mailcap file

> Please (for at least *some* of the rest of us) show (and describe?)
> that (clever) entry in your mailcap file.
> Thanks!

# $Id: sample.mailcap,v 1.2.4.1 1999/02/18 08:34:55 roessler Exp $

text/html; w3m -T text/html %s

>>The "plain text" version arrives unformatted, but both mutt and my
>>composer (vim) know how to make it readable.
>
> Please also explain what you did (and why) to mutt and/or vim
> to make *this* stuff readable.

I did nothing to "mutt"; when confronted with an MS line of text, "mutt"
breaks it up into screen-sized lines and starts the following line with
a continuation sign (+).

When loading such mail into vim, I reformat the paragraphs that had
continuation signs.

I have recently installed the vim-plugin called "mail.vim". Among
other features, this plugin has a routine for getting rid of the
"quote" marks in lines which contain only the "quote" character(s).
This makes the subsequent reformatting less tedious.

Hope that this answers your questions.

Felix

--
Felix Karpfen
Public Key 72FDF9DF (DH/DSA)

In article <pan.2007.05.26.23.37.39.934827@webone.com.au>,
Felix Karpfen <felix@spodzone.org.uk> wrote:
....
>
>I did nothing to "mutt"; when confronted with an MS line of text, "mutt"
>breaks it up into screen-sized lines and starts the following line with
>a continuation sign (+).
>
>When loading such mail into vim, I reformat the paragraphs that had
>continuation signs.
>
>I have recently installed the vim-plugin called "mail.vim". Among
>other features, this plugin has a routine for getting rid of the
>"quote" marks in lines which contain only the "quote" character(s).
>This makes the subsequent reformatting less tedious.
>
>Hope that this answers your questions.
>
>Felix
>
>--
>Felix Karpfen
>Public Key 72FDF9DF (DH/DSA)
>
>

Thanks!

David