Re: header field "References:" ?
On Thu, 2006-12-28, at 13:03:14 +0100, Til Schubbe wrote:
> * On 28.12. René Clerc muttered:
>
> > * Anders Lennartsson <anders@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> [28-12-2006 09:17]:
>
> > > And to get the message sorted in
> > > correctly when it arrives at the mailing list daemon the information
> > > in the I-R-T and References fields are necessary, or at least very
> > > useful (as I understand it).
>
> <RFC 2822>
> 3.6.4. Identification fields
>
> Though optional, every message SHOULD have a "Message-ID:" field.
> Furthermore, reply messages SHOULD have "In-Reply-To:" and
> "References:" fields as appropriate, as described below.
> [...]
> </RFC 2822>
>
> Although they are a "SHOULD" only, they are neccessary for sorting
> the message into the mailing list tree.
Precisely.
> > Recent versions of mutt contain thread editing functionality. It will
> > still be cumbersome work, linking all threads, but it may be more
> > convenient than copying and pasting..
>
> That solves the problem for the people using mutt only - like him.
> Others rely on the appropriate header(s).
Hm, here I am confused. As I get it, it does solve the problem for one
who uses mutt _and_ is subscribed, otherwise mutt never has the
messages with or without headers and thus no threads to edit. Or?
In the Debian mailing lists archives the message ID:s and the
Reference fields are all visible, so it is very (ok, depends on your
viewpoint) to paste in the information in the appropriate fields when
editing a message. If you have a web archive where these fields are
not visible, then it is impossible I guess.
> As a solution mutt could grab the References: header only in those
> cases where the user tells mutt to reply to a message (by typing 'r'
> or 'L'). When just composing a message ('m') - with pasting the
> original into the new message - mutt could keep a References: (and
> I-R-T) header added by the user explicitly.
As you are probably well aware of, mutt does acknowledge a manually
added I-R-T: field (if the complete message is edited, by shortcut
E). But not the field References, at least 1.5.9 in Debian/Sarge.
Also if you are subscribed and the list has an option for sending
message digests instead of individual messages, this could be useful.
It seems the need for this is sparse, so I wonder "How do you guys do
it? Are you always subscribed?"
Anders