Attachment/MIME FAQ?

[Ted Whalen]

Is there a FAQ which details the manner in which differing mail clinets handle
attachments/MIME? For instance, what is the best way for someone using
Microsoft Exchange to send a GIF file attached to a message to someone using
cc:Mail? Can/should I send MIME messages to people who use Eudora?

Does such a FAQ exist, and if not, is there sufficient interest to develop
one?

--
Ted Whalen In this very breath that we take now lies the
t...@nwu.edu secret that all great teachers try to tell us.
http://www.nwu.edu/people/tew - Matthiessen

[Alexis Rosoff]

In article <4jeg9r$1b4...@res-hall.nwu.edu>, t...@nwu.edu (Ted Whalen) writes:
|> Is there a FAQ which details the manner in which differing mail clinets handle
|> attachments/MIME? For instance, what is the best way for someone using
|> Microsoft Exchange to send a GIF file attached to a message to someone using
|> cc:Mail? Can/should I send MIME messages to people who use Eudora?

Well, I don't know of a FAQ other than the one for comp.mail.mime, but
here's a brief outline:

SMTP mail (internet standard) is designed to be 7bit, which is the US ASCII
charset. Although many mailers can now handle a full 8bits, its not universal,
and so binary messages have to be encoded. Here are the most popular encoding
schemes:

Base64: this is the `MIME standard'. It's used when you attach a file in
Eudora, Pine, or MH. Usually the mailer does the conversion on both ends,
saving you a bit of trouble.

UUencode: old and still used a lot especially on USENET. It wasn;t adopted
as the MIME standard because, I think, not all UUencoders are identical.
It's popular still because it's total ascii -- the file is encoded then
inserted into the body of the mail, so it avoids all possible hassle with
stone age mailers. Pegasus Mail still uses UUencode for its attachments,
which is annoying b/c if you read it in another mailer you have to manually
decode the thing.

BinHex: primarily Mac Based encoding (*.hqx). Don't use it for PC or
UNIX users.

Quoted Printable: method for sending 8bit text through 7bit paths (eg
mail in an ISO-8859-x set). Widely known as `quoted unreadable' because
not all mailers can translate it properly.

That's mainly what you'll see on the net these days. Basically, base64 is
best unless you know the person's on a really old system (eg a Berkeley
Mail user or something); then UUencode and insert. Don't use BinHex at all
unless you;re working with mac, and quoted-printable should be avoided if
possible.

Alexis
--
---------Alexis Rosoff-------Long Island, NY-----...@li.net---------
GH/CS/L d? s+:+ a18 C++++ UL/S+++ `Violence is the last refuge of
P++ L+++ E(--) W++(--) N++ o K- w--- the incompetent.' Salvor Hardin
O- M+ V-- PS++ PE- Y++ PGP- t+ 5 X+ in Isaac Asimov's _Foundation_
R tv b++++ DI+ D+ G+++ e* h! r% x** http://www.li.net/~alexis