Re: [VM] searching in mime encoded email

[John Hein]

Julian Bradfield wrote at 08:10 +0000 on Jan 20, 2012:
 > > But there are ramifications to having raw binary data in email
 > > messages beyond the scope of vm.  Imagine reading a message with raw
 > > binary data in an xterm with emacs -nw - see your terminal window go
 > 
 > Most people don't insert random binary junk into the text of their
 > messages, so why would you be reading non-text data?

We're talking about re-saving mime sections so they have something
other than 7-bit ascii.  That's not necessarily non-text data (if it
really is text/plain valid utf-8 under the covers for instance), but
if you view it in such a way not prepared to handle the "binary" data,
this can cause problems.  That is, we're talking about the possibility
of having a feature in vm to "insert binary data".

This whole issue about re-saving email is a side path to the main
issue that started this thread - reaching into base64 encoded content
for searches.

I think re-formatting base64 content and saving it as something else
may have its uses, but it's got some rough edges (that we've mentioned
in this thread) that make it not very desirable solution as the
primary way to get searching in base64 content working in vm.

Ullrich's mention about re-saving messages messing with signed
email is another good example of the "rough edges", too.