[Info-vax] enhancements to VMS MAIL in VMS 8.4

[Phillip Helbig---undress to reply]

Can someone explain this?

> 2.8 Mail Utility Enhancements
> This section describes the mail enhancements in OpenVMS Version 8.4.
> 
> 2.8.1 Support for More Than 255 Characters in Mail Headers
> Support for more than 255 characters in mail headers has been added, as
> per the RFC 2822 standard. The headers include attributes such as
> Subject, To, CC, and F rom fields. You can now send and receive messages
> with headers up to 998 characters. 
> 
> 2.8.2 Mail Forwarding Entry Limit Increased
> The forward username string length has been increased from 31 to 255
> characters.  To utilize this long username string, set bit 4 of the
> DCL_CTLFLAGS system parameter. After this bit is set, the username
> length is set to a maximum length of 255 characters.  Even if this bit
> is cleared, the behavior remains unchanged, that is, the username
> length with 255 characters is still supported. Note that the character
> length cannot be reset to 31 characters. 

Does that mean that until the bit is set for the first time, the old 
behaviour applies, but after it is set, then the new behaviour, EVEN IF 
IT IS RESET TO THE OLD VALUE (i.e. the bit is cleared)?  That's how I 
parse it, but I don't see any reason for it nor how this would be 
implemented in detail.  (Does it survive a reboot?)