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6.2.7 CharsetAlias

Syntax:

CharsetAlias charsetInMail charsetAsKnownToMsged

Example:

CharsetAlias IBMPC CP850

As already noted in the previous section, a lot of mails in Fidonet contain charset kludges that do not adhere to the current FTSC standard for 8-bit character transport, FSP1013. Using the CharsetAlias keyword, you can tell MsgEd TE how to map character set kludge names commonly found in mails to their official names.

The most prominent example is the IBMPC charset kludge. This kludge line is now obsoleted and should be replaced by CPxxx charset kludges, where xxx stands for the codepage that is used. MsgEd TE only knows about the new CPxxx charset. Therefore, you need to use CharsetAlias to tell MsgEd TE how to interprete a IBMPC charset kludge. Now this is difficult, because, if the IBMPC charset kludge is not followed by a @CODEPAGE kludge line, you do not know which codepage the author of the mail has used. According to FSC0054, he should have used codepage 437, but in Western Europe for example the majority of users put IBMPC charset kludge lines into their mails, but actually use codepage 850, and in Russia the same applies for codepage 866. This means that you have to do assumptions. A users who reads mainly texts in Western European languages should probably use CharsetAlias IBMPC CP850, while when you intend to read Russian echomail, CharsetAlias IBMPC CP866 is probably the right thing to do.

Also, some users are simply using fantasy names for the CHRS kludge line. The following commands have also proven to be handy:

CharsetAlias +7_FIDO CP866
CharsetAlias RUFIDO CP866
CharsetAlias ASCII CP437

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