Re: [PATCH] Add $weed_unfold option.

On Fri, Feb 27, 2026 at 11:00:22AM +0800, Kevin J. McCarthy wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 05:09:38PM +0100, Rene Kita wrote:
> > On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 12:19:48PM +0800, Kevin J. McCarthy wrote:
> > > This option, when unset, modifies the display of email headers when
> > > $weed is enabled.
> > > 
> > > The default behavior is to unfold headers when $weed is set, and to
> > > leave them folded when $weed is unset (in effect, displaying them as
> > > they appear in the original email, subject to screen width wrapping).
> > > 
> > > When $weed_unfold is unset and $weed is set, the headers will be
> > > weeded, but will not be unfolded: displaying as they appear in the
> > > original email.
> > > 
> > > The option could be useful for those who 'unignore' long headers, such
> > > as from Spam Assassin, that are formatted to be more readable in the
> > > original email, but become unreadable when unfolded/refolded to screen
> > > width.
> > 
> > This left me a bit confused, but maybe it's just me. Just to clarify:
> > $weed_unfold unset is the new behaviour while setting $weed_unfold is
> > the old default? If so, wouldn't it make more sense to use $weed_fold?
> 
> To be clear, the default behavior is unchanged by this patch.
> 
> But I agree it is a bit confusing.  The *sending* MUA (and hops that add
> headers) fold the headers to be within the 72 char limit.
> 
> Currently, with $weed set (the default) Mutt will unfold those headers. So,
> with an exaggeratedly small fold width for example purposes, a folded
> subject line such as
> 
>   Subject: This is the
>    subject line
> 
> will be displayed as
> 
>   Subject: This is the subject line
> 
> When you toggle off weed via 'h' <display-toggle-weed>', the subject will
> not be unfolded.  It will be shown as it is in the original (subject to
> folding by your display width).  So you will then see:
> 
>   Subject: This is the
>    subject line
> 
> along with all the headers in the email.
> 
> So this new option by default preserves that behavior.  $weed_unfold is set
> by default, and so when $weed is on, the headers will be unfolded as before.
> 
> If you put 'unset weed_unfold' in your muttrc, then the subject and other
> headers you've unignored will be displayed without the unfolding:
> 
>   Subject: This is the
>    subject line
> 
> > Also, unfolding in that case means that a nicely formatted header, a
> > header that goes over multiple lines to be read by humans, is 'unfolded'
> > to be a single line header, right?
> 
> The ticket creator was not happy because their SpamAssasin headers were
> "nicely" formatted, and Mutt was unfolding them and making them less
> readable.  But that's not necessarily the case for all headers.
> 
> If you still find the option name confusing, I could invert it, to something
> like $weed_leave_folded, default unset.  But the option doesn't haven't
> anything to do with "folding".
> 
> I hope that makes it clearer!  :-)

Thanks for the explanation, it's clear to me now. And in the given
context the name makes sense.