Message-ID:  <97100820493693@multivac.jb.man.ac.uk>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project
              <LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
Date:         Wed, 8 Oct 1997 20:49:36 GMT
From: Phillip Helbig <helbig@MULTIVAC.JB.MAN.AC.UK>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project
              <LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
To: Multiple recipients of list LATEX-L
              <LATEX-L@RELAY.URZ.UNI-HEIDELBERG.DE>
Subject:      Re: LaTeX & email (Was: LaTeX journal and publisher macros)
Status: R

> Phillip Helbig:
> >>  > All the files in the latex distribution are checked for the 72
> >>  > character limit as part of the Makefile that makes up the
> >>  > distribution.
> >>
> >> Last year I changed it to check for 80 characters per line. I'm not
> >> going to support mail gateways that cut at 72.
> >
> >If 80 gets through, you can't quote it without rewrapping it yourself.
>
>   Sure, no problem: My text editor can handle lines of more than 5000
> characters, which can be displayed without wrapping using a scroll-bar. So
> I write such a line, puts it in the mail, making sure the automated
> hard-wrapping feature is turned off, the letter being MIME'd. When it
> arrives, the line is picked together to 5000 character length, and the
> recipient displays that as is deemed suitable, say with a scroll-bar,
> without wrapping.
>
>   So LaTeX needs not worry about email line length limitations, really.
       ^^^^^
Is there some confusion here?  I'm referring not to LaTeX source, but
rather to email messages to this list.  If someone writes

*****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6----_----7--

and I quote it, it becomes

> *****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6----_----7--

and if that gets quoted it becomes

> > *****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6----_----7--

and again

> > > *****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6----_----7--

another one

> > > > *****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6----_----7--

and it is 80 characters.  If it gets quoted again

> > > > > *****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6----_----7--

then it is too long---not just for (some) email software or terminals,
but to read easily (I don't want a horizontal scroll bar).  If I wrap
it, then I get

> > > > >*****$#--1----_----2----_----3----_----4----_----5----_----6---
-_----7--

which is not what I want, since the second line should be preceded by
the quote symbol as well.  If someone uses "== " or some other longer
quote symbol than "> " then the situation is worse.


--
Phillip Helbig                          Email ... helbig@multivac.jb.man.ac.uk
Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories   Tel. ..... +44 1477 571 321 (ext. 297)
Jodrell Bank                            Fax ................. +44 1477 571 618
Macclesfield                            Telex ................. 36149 JODREL G
UK-Cheshire SK11 9DL                    Web .... http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/~pjh/

My opinions are not necessarily those of NRAL or the University of Manchester.