[Email-SIG] header folding

[Barry Warsaw]

On Jul 27, 2011, at 04:56 PM, R. David Murray wrote:

>Wrapping is much more like your 'filling', but probably a less precise
>term, as filling does imply maximizing line lengths, while wrapping
>to my ears does not have that connotation as a requirement.

Is it just the guarantee of maximizing line lengths that's missing?

>'refolding', as I've implemented it, consists of taking an existing folded
>header, unfolding it, and then folding it according to the RFC rules and
>recommendations.  This may or may not put the maximum possible number
>of characters on a line, depending on whether the header is structured
>or unstructured and the content of said header.  And it may or may not
>exactly reproduce the original header, depending on how closely the
>original folder and I agree on our interpretation of the RFC rules :)
>(Which is why headers are only refolded by explicit request.)
>
>So, I agree with Stephen, I think 'folding' is the correct term to
>use here.

Okay.  To me 'folding' is closer to 'splitting', while 'wrapping' is closer
'filling' since in what you describe above, there is an 'unfolding' operation
that happens first.  Note too that Emacs's filling doesn't guarantee maximal
line lengths (i.e. fill-column) either since long words can cause previous
lines to be shorter.  That seems analogous to your description above.

-Barry
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