Subj : Directly include binary data in messages
To   : All
From : Tim Schattkowsky
Date : Fri Feb 11 2022 03:11 pm

Hello All,

w.r.t. the embedding of images I actually also consider a variant where the images are included in a more binary-style manner to conserver memory. The idea is, to introduce a Kludge for including Binary attachments directly in the mail similar to MIME but simpler to handle and more space-conserving:

@BIN <filename> <CRC32 in hex> <almost binary data>

Where <almost binary data> uses a simple encoding that essentially aims at avoiding $00, $0d and $0a so the resulting string still forms a valid line of 8-Bit characters. The checksum is also intended to detect any charset violence or 7-Bit fun that might have happend to the message on the way. 

Admittedly, I still have the idea to make the most out of the 63k maximum message length I spuspect for unsplit messages. W.r.t. this, the above mechanism actually has the drawback of being incompatible with @SPLIT and this limiting the size of an attachment effectively to one 63k message. 

One main benefit here is the space saving compared to base64. THis is a general thing: Do you think base64 (or the like) are still necessary or is betting on 8-bit binary transmission ok?

Regards,
Tim
--- WinPoint 398.3
 * Origin: Original WinPoint Origin! (2:240/1120.29)

.