Re: FW: ban the use and implementation of UTF-7

[Markus Scherer <markus.icu@gmail.com>]

Speaking as a library implementer and charset nerd, I agree that UTF-7
is unnecessary for the web (HTTP), and given the discussion I think
it's a good idea to not auto-detect it there.

However, for _email_ (SMTP), there is still some portion of MTAs and
MUAs that need 7-bit content. In a 7BIT mail body, for which UTF-7 was
invented, it is usually more compact than UTF-8+base64 or UTF-8+qp.
Thus, for email I would argue that UTF-7 has its place (although not
necessarily _auto-detection_ of UTF-7).

Of course, once 8BIT SMTP is universally implemented, straight UTF-8
is preferrable.

Best regards,
markus
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