[odf-discuss] Thomas and Daniel's emails

[Jerry Askew]

This issue piqued my interest so I did a little investigation.  I think
that the listserv is messing with PGP-signed messages in such a way that
it confuses some mail readers.  The messages are coming through with the
following structure (indented to show encapsulation):

1.  Message Headers
2.  Message Body (MIME multipart/mixed)
3.    Body Part 1 (MIME multipart/signed)
4.      Body Part 1a (MIME text/plain)
5.        "This is the message body"
6.      Body Part 1b (MIME application/pgp-signature)
7.        PGP signature
8.    Body Part 2 (MIME text/plain)
9.      "List Footer"

I suspect that the message originates as a multipart/signed mail (omit
lines 2, 8 and 9 above).  The listserv then encapsulates this (line 2)
in order to add the footer (lines 8 and 9).  Mail readers should and
typically do display the body parts of multipart/mixed content
sequentially.  Any unrecognized multipart subtype (e.g. multipart/signed
in this case) is to be treated as if it were "mixed".  I think the
problem comes in when there is a multipart inside another multipart.
Should the hierarchy be "flattened out" and displayed serially, or is a
hierarchical representation necessary?

To a mail reader, hierarchical translates to encapsulated, and
encapsulated means "attachment".  Accordingly, some mail readers will
choose to flatten this structure and display any type that it can inline
and just attach the rest.  Other mail readers will choose to represent
the hierarchy by attaching anything that isn't directly displayable
(including parts that are further encapsulated like lines 3 - 7 above).
IMHO the first model (flattening) is preferable since there is a
specific MIME type (message/rfc822) for creating a message hierarchy.

Maybe configuring the listserv to not add the footer would help?

-Jerry

Askew Network Solutions
http://www.askew.net





> -----Original Message-----
> From: odf-discuss-bounces at opendocumentfellowship.org 
> [mailto:odf-discuss-bounces at opendocumentfellowship.org] On 
> Behalf Of Daniel Carrera
> Sent: Saturday, November 18, 2006 6:04 AM
> To: ODF Discussion List
> Subject: Re: [odf-discuss] Thomas and Daniel's emails
> 
> On Fri, 2006-17-11 at 14:27 +1100, Mike Carden wrote:
> > The odd bit is that it's only happening to Thomas and 
> Daniel's emails. 
> > All others are fine.
> 
> Yeah, that's because Thomas and I sign our emails and others 
> don't. Your copy of Outlook seems to get confused by our PGP 
> signatures.
> 
> Can you confirm that you *don't* have the same problem with 
> this email?
> This email is not signed.
> 
> Best,
> Daniel.
> --
> "I AM in shape. Round IS a shape."
> 
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> 
>