Outlook -> mbox -> mutt

[George <d1945@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

When I first started using mutt, I had trouble getting mutt to read from
mboxes (Outlook PST files converted to mbox format by Thunderbird).  I
thought I identified the problem as a blank 'From' line and put the
matter to rest.

I'm now in the middle of converting all these mboxes for use with mutt.
It seems the problem I had was/is in the date format as it appears in
the envelope header (and not simply in the absence of an email address):

   current format:                 Wed, 27 Nov 2002 01:47:48
   acceptable to mutt format:      Wed Nov 27 09:08:15 2004

I wrote a Perl script to regenerate all the mboxes by fixing the date in
the 'From' line and everything seemed fine until I noticed some date
weirdness when using mutt.  Frequently, the date in the 'From' line
didn't match the date in the actual Date header (sometimes off by
several months).  After doing some checking, I discovered the problem
exists in the original mbox, so no fault of mine. The question of
whether Outlook or Thunderbird screwed up, I'll save for another
discussion. 

I also discovered that Mutt uses the Date header's date for display in
the index, so I'm left a bit confused as to the signifance of the 'From'
line as it relates to mutt.  If some can address the following questions
I'd be grateful.

1.  Should rewrite the mboxes again, this time with a 'From' line that
contains the same date that appears in the Date header.  I'm assuming
that *the* correct format I should be using is:

   Tue Sep 28 13:42:03 2004

2. Does it really matter whether the 'From' is left blank, or would it
be good form to add that in by extracting the address that appears in
the actual From header?

Thanks.

-- 
George