[Haskell-cafe] Question: mime-mail and base64 encoding

[Michael Snoyman]

Hi all,

I've gotten a request for the mime-mail package that I'd like some
input on. Right now, there's the ability to fully specify whether or
not to base64-encode each part in a message, but the included
simpleMail function defaults to non-encoded parts for both its HTML
and plain text alternatives. This has apparently caused some issues
where long HTML strings have been word-wrapped at bad locations,
causing breakage in the meaning of the markup.

The request is to make both the HTML and plain text parts use base64
encoding by default. This *seems* to me to make a lot of sense, since
it will ensure that your message arrives exactly as you intended it,
and will ensure that any non-ASCII code points don't get killed
somewhere along the way. On the other hand, I'm not sure what client
support is like for base-64 encoding. Don't we need to leave *some*
form of non-encoded data for less sophisticated email clients?

Thanks,
Michael