diff -u mutt-1.5.17/PATCHES mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/PATCHES
--- mutt-1.5.17/PATCHES	2007-03-21 14:26:38.000000000 -0400
+++ mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/PATCHES	2008-02-13 22:07:28.000000000 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+patch-1.5.17.mh.checksubj
diff -u mutt-1.5.17/compose.c mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/compose.c
--- mutt-1.5.17/compose.c	2007-09-30 20:46:20.000000000 -0400
+++ mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/compose.c	2008-02-13 22:07:28.000000000 -0500
@@ -1178,6 +1178,61 @@
 
       case OP_COMPOSE_ISPELL:
 	endwin ();
+/*#ifdef MTH_SUBJECT_SPELLCHECK_HACK*/
+	if (option (OPTSPELLCHECKSUBJECT))
+	{
+		FILE * spellfp;
+		char spellfile[_POSIX_PATH_MAX];
+		size_t subjectlen;
+
+		/* make sure to check for no subject */
+		if (msg->env->subject != NULL && (subjectlen = strlen (msg->env->subject))> 0)
+		{
+			mutt_mktemp (spellfile);
+
+	/* put subject in a file by itself, ispell the file, rewrite the subject in memory */
+			if (!(spellfp = fopen (spellfile, "w")))
+			{
+				mutt_error (_("Can't create file %s"), spellfile);
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			fputs(msg->env->subject,spellfp);
+			fclose(spellfp);
+
+			snprintf (buf, sizeof (buf), "%s -x %s", NONULL(Ispell), spellfile);
+			if (mutt_system (buf) == -1)
+			  mutt_error (_("Error running \"%s\"!"), buf);
+
+			if (!(spellfp = fopen (spellfile, "r")))
+			{
+				mutt_error (_("Can't open file %s"), spellfile);
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			subjectlen = fread(buf, 1, LONG_STRING, spellfp );
+			fclose(spellfp);
+			mutt_unlink (spellfile);
+
+	/*truncate the subject to LONG_STRING of what we got back from ispell*/
+			if (subjectlen < LONG_STRING)
+				buf[subjectlen] = '\0';
+			else
+				buf[LONG_STRING-1] = '\0';
+			
+			mutt_str_replace(&msg->env->subject, buf);
+			mutt_update_encoding (msg->content);
+			menu->redraw |= REDRAW_STATUS; /*TODO Remove? */
+			mutt_str_replace (&msg->env->subject, buf);
+			move (HDR_SUBJECT, HDR_XOFFSET);
+			clrtoeol ();
+			if (msg->env->subject)
+				mutt_paddstr (W, msg->env->subject);
+		
+	/*#endif MTH_SUBJECT_SPELLCHECK_HACK*/
+		}
+	}
+
 	snprintf (buf, sizeof (buf), "%s -x %s", NONULL(Ispell), msg->content->filename);
 	if (mutt_system (buf) == -1)
 	  mutt_error (_("Error running \"%s\"!"), buf);
diff -u mutt-1.5.17/init.h mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/init.h
--- mutt-1.5.17/init.h	2007-10-31 13:48:52.000000000 -0400
+++ mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/init.h	2008-02-13 22:07:28.000000000 -0500
@@ -2821,6 +2821,13 @@
   ** ``$$sort_re'' for a less drastic way of controlling this
   ** behaviour.
   */
+  { "spellcheck_subject",	DT_BOOL, R_NONE, OPTSPELLCHECKSUBJECT , 0 },
+  /*
+  ** .pp
+  ** When set, mutt also spellchecks the subject line of a message by
+  ** writing it out to a temp file and envoking the spell check, then
+  ** continues the standard spellcheck as usual
+  */
   { "suspend",		DT_BOOL, R_NONE, OPTSUSPEND, 1 },
   /*
   ** .pp
diff -u mutt-1.5.17/mutt.h mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/mutt.h
--- mutt-1.5.17/mutt.h	2007-08-28 13:44:16.000000000 -0400
+++ mutt-1.5.17-checksubj/mutt.h	2008-02-13 22:07:28.000000000 -0500
@@ -433,6 +433,7 @@
   OPTSIGONTOP,
   OPTSORTRE,
   OPTSPAMSEP,
+  OPTSPELLCHECKSUBJECT,
   OPTSTATUSONTOP,
   OPTSTRICTTHREADS,
   OPTSUSPEND,