A bit of pointing in the proper direction - you should really take a
look at various unix MUA's (pine is my favorite. elm is a bit older but
also text-based like pine. Some X11 based ones include Mutt and
Netscape Communicator)
On Mon, 4 Sep 2000, Nigel Metheringham wrote:
>
> davidturetsky@??? said:
> > I'm glad you raise this point. When I use vi/vim to compose a file for
> > delivery via exim, I set the linelength to 70/72 and the delivered
> > mail reads well and satisfies esthetic/politeness requirements.
> > However when I use exim directly and explicitly use the 'enter' key to
> > limit line length, when viewed with mail readers such as Outlook
> > Express, which can accomodate arbitrary lengths depending on the size
> > of the window, the lines are usually crudely broken where the 'enter'
> > was inserted and the presentation is quite poor. When such text is
> > included in a reply, the presentation degenerates even further
>
> Exim is an MTA. Its job is to get mail from one place to another
> without changing the content.
>
> An MTA is not designed for the end user - the end user can consider
> mail transport to be a piece of black magic that happens somehow... the
> user just talks to their MUA (*not* the MTA).
>
> Hence an MTA does not have reformatting, MIME support, spell checkers
> or the capability to add and distribute viruses.
>
> > Does exim have a 'linelength' option? Can I otherwise insert an
> > appropriate control character to resolve this? Can exim add a feature
> > such as in the latest version of vim that comes with debian 2.2 that
> > shows the position on the line?
>
> In a word no, and it never will have.
>
> Nigel.
>
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