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Proposal - Remove requirement that emails be wrapped at 80 characters

From Soren Stoutner@21:1/5 to Debian Vote on Sat Mar 15 11:33:51 2025

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----- BACKGROUND STARTS -----

The text of the current mailing list code of conduct states:

"Wrap your lines at 80 characters or less for ordinary discussion. Lines longer than 80 characters are acceptable for computer-generated output (e.g., ls -l)."

https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/

There were historical reasons for requiring people to wrap outgoing emails relating to some older MUAs (Mail User Agents also known as email clients) not having the ability to wrap the text of incoming emails and some older screens being limited to an 80 character width.

These historical reasons no longer apply, as every MUA of which I am aware now has the ability to wrap incoming lines.

From a technical perspective, I believe having the sending MUA hard-wrap lines at a particular column is the incorrect approach because there is no single line

limit that works well on all receiving devices. Many cell phones have a display
width of 40 columns or less, while modern desktops have a display width of far more than 80 columns. The only system that knows how big the viewport is where the mail will be displayed is the receiving MUA, so that is where decisions about line wrapping should be made.

Having hard line wraps also causes problem with quoted text, where after multiple replies text will start to break in places that can make some of the quoted text appear to not be quoted. I am sure that everyone on the mailing lists has seen emails exhibiting that problem.

There has is some discussion about this issue on debian-devel beginning at:

https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/02/msg00302.html

In that discussion, several people have suggested the use of format=flowed as a solution. Format=flowed is an RFC that proposes a system for hard-wrapping text
but including special codes that allow a receiving MUA to unwrap them and then rewrap them to the current viewport.

https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2646.txt

Format=flowed never gained wide adoption by the majority of MUAs. Although I don't have any objections to anyone using it, I don't see it as an appropriate requirement for communication on the mailing lists or a general solution to the problems of hard-wrapped text because it doesn't have wide enough implementation.

----- BACKGROUND ENDS -----

----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----

It is no longer required that emails sent to or received from official Debian infrastructure like the mailing lists or the BTS (Bug Tracking System) be wrapped at any particular column, although users and automated systems may choose to wrap emails at any column they prefer. Using format=flowed is not required for emails, but users and automated systems may do so if they like.

The maintainers of the mailing list code of conduct shall update the text relating to the wrapping of emails at 80 characters to be the following:

"There is no expectation that emails sent to the mailing lists are wrapped by the sender at a particular column, but those sending emails may wrap them if they choose."

In the future, they may modify the above text of the code of conduct to meet changing circumstances as long as it does not violate the spirit of this General
Resolution.

----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----

--
Soren Stoutner
[email protected]

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<body>----- BACKGROUND STARTS -----
 The text of the current mailing list code of conduct states:
 "Wrap your lines at 80 characters or less for ordinary discussion. Lines longer
than 80 characters are acceptable for computer-generated output (e.g., ls -l)."
 https://www.debian.org/MailingLists/
 There were historical reasons for requiring people to wrap outgoing emails
relating to some older MUAs (Mail User Agents also known as email clients) not
having the ability to wrap the text of incoming emails and some older screens
being limited to an 80 character width.
 These historical reasons no longer apply, as every MUA of which I am aware now
has the ability to wrap incoming lines.
 From a technical perspective, I believe having the sending MUA hard-wrap lines
at a particular column is the incorrect approach because there is no single line
limit that works well on all receiving devices.  Many cell phones have a display
width of 40 columns or less, while modern desktops have a display width of far
more than 80 columns.  The only system that knows how big the viewport is where
the mail will be displayed is the receiving MUA, so that is where decisions
about line wrapping should be made.
 Having hard line wraps also causes problem with quoted text, where after
multiple replies text will start to break in places that can make some of the
quoted text appear to not be quoted.  I am sure that everyone on the mailing
lists has seen emails exhibiting that problem.
 There has is some discussion about this issue on debian-devel beginning at:
 https://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2025/02/msg00302.html
 In that discussion, several people have suggested the use of format=flowed as a
solution.  Format=flowed is an RFC that proposes a system for hard-wrapping text
but including special codes that allow a receiving MUA to unwrap them and then
rewrap them to the current viewport.
 https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2646.txt
 Format=flowed never gained wide adoption by the majority of MUAs.  Although I
don't have any objections to anyone using it, I don't see it as an appropriate
requirement for communication on the mailing lists or a general solution to the
problems of hard-wrapped text because it doesn't have wide enough
implementation.
 ----- BACKGROUND ENDS -----
 ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION STARTS -----
 It is no longer required that emails sent to or received from official Debian
infrastructure like the mailing lists or the BTS (Bug Tracking System) be
wrapped at any particular column, although users and automated systems may
choose to wrap emails at any column they prefer.  Using format=flowed is not
required for emails, but users and automated systems may do so if they like.
 The maintainers of the mailing list code of conduct shall update the text
relating to the wrapping of emails at 80 characters to be the following:
 "There is no expectation that emails sent to the mailing lists are wrapped by
the sender at a particular column, but those sending emails may wrap them if
they choose."
 In the future, they may modify the above text of the code of conduct to meet
changing circumstances as long as it does not violate the spirit of this General
Resolution.
 ----- GENERAL RESOLUTION ENDS -----
 -- 
Soren Stoutner
[email protected]
</body>
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Proposal - Remove requirement that emails be wrapped at 80 characters

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