Haraka handles the issue of email delivery.

[sherrowsicilia-cpu]

Haraka handles the issue of email delivery. My "Received" email header always exceeds 76 characters each time. Where should the line break problem be handled? I don't know if anyone has encountered this. Suppose when I add an x header that exceeds 76 characters, the line break is not handled and the characters of the email header are not included. Instead, it exceeds 76. His line break logic exists, but it does not calculate the length of the email header. It only calculates the length of the value. Similarly, the DKIM plugin also has this problem. If my h= is if the signature is too long. Again, there is no line break logic. How should this be solved? Thank you.

[msimerson]

Problem?

You are referring to RFC 5322, section 2.2.3. The maximum header line length (header Name, ': ', header Body) is 1000 characters (998 chars + the : separator). There is no maximum header length because multiple lines can be folded within that 1000 char limit. Common examples are the DKIM-Signature and Received headers:

Received: from out-20.smtp.github.com (out-20.smtp.github.com [192.30.252.203])
	by mail.theartfarm.com (Haraka/3.1.1) with ESMTPS id 98AC2D14-6A8F-4040-88AB-66CFFE2C6E0A.1
	envelope-from <noreply@github.com>
	tls TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384;
	Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:57:44 -0800
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=github.com;
	s=pf2023; t=1770857857;
	bh=WY2wcj1ATQfc6d5uma1tebDYox8KCJGgKVpdrRt1lJU=;
	h=Date:From:Reply-To:To:Cc:Subject:List-ID:List-Archive:List-Post:
	 List-Unsubscribe:List-Unsubscribe-Post:From;
	b=M3PcVtjWYdLY2MuFQdnthzsPZXrZr7JqfH8PKIXr32dR9NXkFFflURqvrjDulH+4x
	 xxfBWJO0GOFv5iuNaxr95bzD3KJZ4yjvNseLBjq9t/w1PztJwIt/Ha2mZbgGUUno1N
	 z3Vumy2v3Nv2bn/nYU1vHUKFC6OxG4P4E4gmrYsg=

The reference in RFC 5322, to deal with the 998/78 character limitations per line is referring to the max line length (998) and the max name length of 78 chars (eg: X-Haraka-Plugin-MyVeryLongNameCantExceedSeventyEightChars).

Everything after that is optional aesthetic considerations: folding on whitespace, after separators, etc. The ~80 char SHOULD suggestion for line length is based on the 80 char limit of our terminals of that time. I don't find such arguments persuasive in this century, but to each their own.

[sherrowsicilia-cpu]

Thank you for your response. I was referring to the format issue of 5322. Of course, I'm well aware that the maximum length is 998 characters. However, it's recommended that each line not exceed 78 characters. I just want to make my email headers look more aesthetically pleasing. If you take a look at a set of email headers I'll show you, you'll understand the problem I'm facing. I have no idea where to make the necessary adjustments.

Received: from out-20.smtp.github.com (out-20.smtp.github.com [192.30.252.203]) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
by mail.theartfarm.com (Haraka/3.1.1) with ESMTPS id 98AC2D14-6A8F-4040-88AB-66CFFE2C6E0A.1 envelope-from noreply@github.com
tls TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384;
Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:57:44 -0800

xmailer:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Just like the demonstration of this xmailer, you should be able to clearly see what I mean. DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=github.com;
s=pf2023; t=1770857857;
bh=WY2wcj1ATQfc6d5uma1tebDYox8KCJGgKVpdrRt1lJU=;
h=Date:From:Reply-To:To:Cc:Subject:List-ID:ListArchive:ListPost:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
List-Unsubscribe:List-Unsubscribe-Post:From;
b=M3PcVtjWYdLY2MuFQdnthzsPZXrZr7JqfH8PKIXr32dR9NXkFFflURqvrjDulH+4x
xxfBWJO0GOFv5iuNaxr95bzD3KJZ4yjvNseLBjq9t/w1PztJwIt/Ha2mZbgGUUno1N
z3Vumy2v3Nv2bn/nYU1vHUKFC6OxG4P4E4gmrYsg=
Just like the effect I showed you, each section has a line break. But when my email header is too long, it only calculates the length of the value and limits it to 78 characters, but it doesn't consider the length of the header in the same section. This forces the headers of the emails I send to be of different lengths. If you have a better solution or can tell me at which node I should handle the folding and line breaks of the email headers, I would be very grateful.

[msimerson]

You make the adjustments where the header(s) is being added to the message. For example, yesterday I improved the appearance of the SPF header by making this change.