Re the problems which our over 80 character mail seems to be causing
LISTSERV.  Here's what we propose to do as a band-aid for the time
being.  Looks like most of the problem is stemming from mail routed
thru MAILER@STANFORD which is a gateway between the campus net and
BITNET.  Since MAILER is just a WYLBUR exec we propose to add some
code which will look for the name of a LISTSERV list in the userid
field and either wrap or truncate long lines (preference?) in such
mail.  To keep the kludge manageable we're only planning to include
ARPA redistribution lists at this time.  So..., if you are
maintaining one of these, please send me the list name so we can
include it.  This should at least reduce the number of barfs until
Eric's next revision is out.
 
Now, about that next revision.  It wasn't clear to me from Eric's
last note what he is going to do exactly.  He said something about
ignoring something but I'm not sure exactly what it is he intends
to ignore.  Given our WYLBUR environment it is very easy for someone
here to mail something that's over 80 characters.  In fact, a WYLBUR
active can be up to 235 character although we only allow network
mail up to 132 (I think).  By and large this doesn't seem to be
causing any problems for mail delivered right to another user
although I do know of at least one case where the recipient had to
use something other than his usual procedures to read it.  Although
we do allow users to PRINT and PUNCH to remote destinations, mail is
such a natural part of the environment around here that they don't
tend to do it that way.  We could force them too, if they want to
send lines over 80 characters but I think in some cases they really
want the stuff to arrive looking like mail.  Also, we had local mail
in place many years before network mail came and we are not overly
fond of having them look very different. Opinions?  Suggestions?
 
To:  LSTSRV-L(LSTSRV-L@CLVM)