Subj : Default Character Set when none is defined
To   : All
From : Scott Street
Date : Tue Jun 03 2025 09:45 am

Fellow Developers,

I've been tinkering writing a Python based tosser/packer.   Some things I've noticed in processing mail;  not all messages contain a character set kludge flag (and I find, to my surprise,  my own current BBS doesn't support it -cringe-). Though, more to the specific question:  what character set does one use as a default when one is not defined?

Do I use ASCII, CP437, CP850, or something else? (I'm in the US, so gut reaction is to use CP437) But is that the right choice?

Secondly, FTS documents suggest that the character set is to applied to the body and header portions of the message,  does that include the kludge lines? I'm currently handling them separately as 'ascii'; which given the history of Fidonet, I chose as the more likely answer.

Looking for your thoughts.

And if a different echo is more proper, please point me in that direction and
I'll continue the discuss there.


Scott

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: <=-{ The Digital Post }-=> (1:266/625)

.