Re: keeping attachments as attachments, body as body

[Gary Johnson <garyjohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 2006-02-09, Jean-Rene David <jrdavid@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Is there a way to include a message's body in my
> forwarded message while still keeping any attached
> binary files as mime attachments?
> 
> I would have though unsetting forward_decode (with
> mime_forward unset) would have done the trick.
> What actually happens is that the attachments get
> included in the message body.
> 
> When I do set forward_decode (with mime_forward
> still unset) the attachments just disappears.
> 
> I then tried setting mime_forward. What happens
> then is that if mime_forward_decode is unset, the
> *whole* message gets attached to the forwarded
> message; I don't have the body of the forwarded
> message in my message. 
> 
> If mime_forward_decode is set, then only the body
> of the message gets attached and the binary
> attachment get discarded again.
> 
> It seems like a pretty simple task so I'm thinking
> the problem must be between the chair and the
> keyboard...

I've run into the same thing.  There is no easy way that I know of 
to do this within mutt.  Here's what I've taken to doing.

    1.  set mailcap_path=/dev/null
        This will prevent mutt from converting attachments to plain 
        text and inserting them in-line.
    2.  In the attachment menu, tag all parts of the message.
    3.  Forward all the parts by typing ";f".
    4.  At the "Forward as attachments? ([no]/yes): " prompt,
        answer "n".
    5.  Edit message; type "y" to send.
    6.  set mailcap_path=$HOME/.mutt/mailcap
        or to wherever you keep your mailcap file.

I have:

    forward_decode="yes"
    mime_forward="ask-no"
    mime_forward_decode="no"
    mime_forward_rest="yes"

All these options confuse me, especially since none of them seem to 
do what I want, and while I've run numerous experiments like yours, 
I haven't taken the time to figure out _exactly_ what they do.

I'd like to fix this, but I just don't forward messages with 
attachments often enough to motivate me to fix it.  In the mean 
time, I have macros for steps 1 and 6; sometimes I just "bounce" the 
message and send a separate cover letter to the recipient; at other 
times I just forward the whole message as one message/rfc822 
attachment.

HTH,
Gary

-- 
Gary Johnson                               | Agilent Technologies
garyjohn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx                   | Wireless Division
http://www.spocom.com/users/gjohnson/mutt/ | Spokane, Washington, USA