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@@ -558,6 +558,9 @@ in the `Porting Python code`_ section of this document.
New Email Package Features
==========================
+Policy Framework
+----------------
+
The email package now has a :mod:`~email.policy` framework. A
:class:`~email.policy.Policy` is an object with several methods and properties
that control how the email package behaves. The primary policy for Python 3.3
@@ -610,6 +613,99 @@ policy instances for your different cases, and pass those in when you create
the ``generator``.
+Provisional Policy with New Header API
+--------------------------------------
+
+While the policy framework is worthwhile all by itself, the main motivation for
+introducing it is to allow the creation of new policies that implement new
+features for the email package in a way that maintains backward compatibility
+for those who do not use the new policies. Because the new policies introduce a
+new API, we are releasing them in Python 3.3 as a :term:`provisional policy
+<provisional package>`. Backwards incompatible changes (up to and including
+removal of the code) may occur if deemed necessary by the core developers.
+
+The new policies are instances of :class:`~email.policy.EmailPolicy`,
+and add the following additional controls:
+
+ =============== =======================================================
+ refold_source Controls whether or not headers parsed by a
+ :mod:`~email.parser` are refolded by the
+ :mod:`~email.generator`. It can be ``none``, ``long``,
+ or ``all``. The default is ``long``, which means that
+ source headers with a line longer than
+ ``max_line_length`` get refolded. ``none`` means no
+ line get refolded, and ``all`` means that all lines
+ get refolded.
+
+ header_factory A callable that take a ``name`` and ``value`` and
+ produces a custom header object.
+ =============== =======================================================
+
+The ``header_factory`` is the key to the new features provided by the new
+policies. When one of the new policies is used, any header retrieved from
+a ``Message`` object is an object produced by the ``header_factory``, and any
+time you set a header on a ``Message`` it becomes an object produced by
+``header_factory``. All such header objects have a ``name`` attribute equal
+to the header name. Address and Date headers have additional attributes
+that give you access to the parsed data of the header. This means you can now
+do things like this::
+
+ >>> m = Message(policy=SMTP)
+ >>> m['To'] = 'Éric <foo@example.com>'
+ >>> m['to']
+ 'Éric <foo@example.com>'
+ >>> m['to'].addresses
+ (Address(display_name='Éric', username='foo', domain='example.com'),)
+ >>> m['to'].addresses[0].username
+ 'foo'
+ >>> m['to'].addresses[0].display_name
+ 'Éric'
+ >>> m['Date'] = email.utils.localtime()
+ >>> m['Date'].datetime
+ datetime.datetime(2012, 5, 25, 21, 39, 24, 465484, tzinfo=datetime.timezone(datetime.timedelta(-1, 72000), 'EDT'))
+ >>> m['Date']
+ 'Fri, 25 May 2012 21:44:27 -0400'
+ >>> print(m)
+ To: =?utf-8?q?=C3=89ric?= <foo@example.com>
+ Date: Fri, 25 May 2012 21:44:27 -0400
+
+You will note that the unicode display name is automatically encoded as
+``utf-8`` when the message is serialized, but that when the header is accessed
+directly, you get the unicode version. This eliminates any need to deal with
+the :mod:`email.header` :meth:`~email.header.decode_header` or
+:meth:`~email.header.make_header` functions.
+
+You can also create addresses from parts::
+
+ >>> m['cc'] = [Group('pals', [Address('Bob', 'bob', 'example.com'),
+ ... Address('Sally', 'sally', 'example.com')]),
+ ... Address('Bonzo', addr_spec='bonz@laugh.com')]
+ >>> print(m)
+ To: =?utf-8?q?=C3=89ric?= <foo@example.com>
+ Date: Fri, 25 May 2012 21:44:27 -0400
+ cc: pals: Bob <bob@example.com>, Sally <sally@example.com>;, Bonzo <bonz@laugh.com>
+
+Decoding to unicode is done automatically::
+
+ >>> m2 = message_from_string(str(m))
+ >>> m2['to']
+ 'Éric <foo@example.com>'
+
+When you parse a message, you can use the ``addresses`` and ``groups``
+attributes of the header objects to access the groups and individual
+addresses::
+
+ >>> m2['cc'].addresses
+ (Address(display_name='Bob', username='bob', domain='example.com'), Address(display_name='Sally', username='sally', domain='example.com'), Address(display_name='Bonzo', username='bonz', domain='laugh.com'))
+ >>> m2['cc'].groups
+ (Group(display_name='pals', addresses=(Address(display_name='Bob', username='bob', domain='example.com'), Address(display_name='Sally', username='sally', domain='example.com')), Group(display_name=None, addresses=(Address(display_name='Bonzo', username='bonz', domain='laugh.com'),))
+
+In summary, if you use one of the new policies, header manipulation works the
+way it ought to: your application works with unicode strings, and the email
+package transparently encodes and decodes the unicode to and from the RFC
+standard Content Transfer Encodings.
+
+
Other Language Changes
======================