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Re: [Mutt] #714: Lines starting From aren't escaped saving from Maildir to mbox



#714: Lines starting From aren't escaped saving from Maildir to mbox

Comment (by vinc17):

 Replying to [comment:17 rtc]:
 > From_ must be quoted in some way; if not, the end of the message cannot
 be uniquely determined anymore.

 No, with some formats, it doesn't need to be quoted. Also, if a line
 starting with "From" doesn't have the expected format, it doesn't need to
 be quoted. Mutt does this check when reading a mailbox (if the Content-
 Length is either incorrect or missing).

 > To the best of my knowledge, procmail, exim and postfix never read from
 a mailbox (correct me if I am wrong), but only append to it, so they never
 have to assume a mailbox format, but only write messages in one.

 To write a message, they need to assume a format. For instance, if some
 message contains a line starting with ">From ", it will have to be written
 as ">From " in mboxo (this is what procmail, exim and postfix do), but it
 will have to be written as ">>From " in mboxrd.

 > Assuming mboxrd format when reading a mail from a mboxo format mailbox
 has not more problems than assuming mboxo format when reading a mail from
 a mboxo format mailbox.

 This is incorrect. Assuming that in general, a line starting with "From "
 doesn't need to be quoted (see above), assuming mboxo format will lead to
 fewer message "corruptions".

 > > No information is lost when the mail is written. It is lost only when
 the mail is stored to some mbox format.
 >
 > In fact, it is only lost when the mail is stored to some mbox format
 other than mboxrd.

 No (see above).

 > There is no such thing as "the mbox format".  It is always better to
 assume mboxrd. It has the clear advantage that the message is retrieved
 correctly at least for one case: The case that the file was written in
 mboxrd format.

 No, this is wrong (see above).

 > I am not exactly sure whether you have understood the problem that
 mboxrd solves. mboxo mailboxes always involve a loss of information.

 No, this is wrong. If you have no lines starting with "From " (or if the
 software is smart enough to detect that they don't need to be quoted, that
 is, most of the time), there is no loss of information.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://dev.mutt.org/trac/ticket/714#comment:18>