[ANN] mbox packer plugin version 1.10 released

[Juergen]

Hi all,


I'm sorry that it took such a long time from version 1.00 to this new version, but finally I had time to further develop the plugin. Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback about it!
Generally speaking, the main new features are a new naming system for extracted mails, and the ability to change mbox files. So the plugin now is useful for synchronizing mails in different mbox files.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
* changed:
- E-mail headers are now often recognized as such, even when they are syntactically not correct. So mbox files that are not in conformity with the standard are splitted more reliably.
- mbox now locks the mbox files while it reads or writes them, so that other programs can't alter them at the same time.
- In order to create a unique file name, the serial number of the mail in the regarding mbox file is not appended to the subject any more, but a hexadecimal number representing date, time and time zone of the mail is used instead. In the rare cases, when there are nevertheless duplicate names, a serial number in brackets will be added.
- mbox files that do not start with a "From " line will not be opened any more.
- Several internal changes.
- Enhanced documentation.

+ new:
- Support for base64 encoded subjects.
- Support for UTF-8 in subjects.
- Delete selected mails from an mbox file.
- Create new mbox files.
- Add mails to existing mbox files.
- Progress bar for "Test Archiv(e)s".
- Show a message box when the user clicks the [Configure] button from within "Pack files" dialog box.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Documentation: http://home.arcor.de/luethje/prog/mbox_en.htm

Download: http://home.arcor.de/luethje/prog/index.htm

Please tell me your opionion and suggestions for improvement!

Regards,
Juergen

[djk]

Thanks for the new version of the plugin.

I use Mozilla Thunderbird 1.06 for reading news. The files it uses have different extensions (usually as the names of the groups), e.g raks.test, raks.installation.
At your documentation page you said: "regardless of the extension this plugin opens every valid mbox file when you press Ctrl + PageDown".
It opens the Thunderbird files only when I change the extension. Does it mean that the files are not valid mbox files or somthing works wrong?

[Juergen]

Hello djk,

thanks for reporting the problem. I also use Thunderbird (version 1.0.2). On my system I can open all its mail and news files by pressing [Ctrl]+[PageDown], without changing their extension.
It looks as if the plugin considers also your news files as valid mbox files. Otherwise it would not open them, even after changing the extension, but TC would show the message "Error in packed file <filename>!" instead.

I've duplicated the problem on my machine with mbox files that have a size of 0 bytes. I think it makes some sense that the plugin considers them as valid mbox files, so that it can open them, and append new messages to them. But now I've found a bug in the plugin that prevents <Ctrl>+<PageDown> from opening files with a size of 0 bytes.

Do your files also have a size of 0 bytes? Otherwise something special seems to happen here. In this case please post here or send me by e-mail <prog.lue AT arcor.de> the complete first part of such a file, that means all lines up to the first blank line.

Thanks for your feedback.

Regards, Juergen

[djk]

2Juergen
The files are of course bigger than 0 bytes
I've also tried to open Opera .mbs files and it works correctly but when I've changed their extensions (eg. into .mbsa) it was not able to open them I don't know why.

I've sent to your mailbox the part of the Thunderbird file. Maybe it will help you.

[Juergen]

Hi djk,

thanks for your reply and your mail. The part of your mail between the lines is actually a valid mbox file. And when I saved it to a file named "raks.private.r3.kasa" (Thunderbird like naming style), I could open it on my system with [Ctrl]+[PageDown].

It looks to me as if this is not a problem of my plugin itself, but of the whole process that starts when a user presses [Ctrl]+[PageDown]. I don't know the internals of TC, but I think something like the following is happening:

• a) If the extension of the concerning file is associated with a plugin, this plugin is called directly (the same way as if the user had pressed [Enter] or had double-clicked at the file. Other plugins are not called.
  
  b) If the extension of the concerning file is not associated with any plugin (or the file doesn't have an extension), I assume TC calls the function CanYouHandleThisFile() in one installed packer plugin after the other. When a plugin replies "Yes, I can." then TC tells the plugin: "OK, please open this file.", and does not ask the remaining plugins.
  In what order does TC call the packer plugis? Maybe alphabetically, or according to the date of their installation? Is that documented somewhere?

I'm pretty sure that you have also other packer plugins installed. Currently it looks to me that in the cases that you reported some of them are called prior to my plugin, and the CanYouHandleThisFile() function of one of those plugins returns TRUE to TC, so that in this cases my plugin never gets a request for opening the file. I would be interesting to know, whether e.g. Thunderbird newsgroup files or Opera files with extension .mbsa are opend on your system using [Ctrl]+[PageDown], when no other packer plugin except of mbox is installed.

Maybe we neeed some help from Mr. Ghisler (or other TC experts). I'm not sure, but it might be helpful for them to know the versions of TC and Windows we are talking about. My system, where things work as expected, is TC 6.53 on German Windows 98.

Regards, Juergen

[djk]

You are right.
When I temporary removed all other wcx plugins it recognizes the file correctly and opens it without any problems.
I will try to check which plugin makes the conflict.

[djk]

I've got it.
When I removed the entry:

mat=351,%Commander_path%\plugins\wcx\5mat\5mat.wcx

everything works correctly.
Moreover, it also works ok if I've moved mbox plugin before 5mat.

[rolandd]

Thanks for this great plugin I lost some mails but now I found them and could merge it all together

Now I just wonder, how can I compare 2 mailboxes? How do I copy a mail from 1 mailbox directly into another mailbox?

A new improvement might be (not sure if your plugin should do so ) but to show the mails formatted instead of plain text.

Regards,

RolandD

[tbeu]

mat=351,%Commander_path%\plugins\wcx\5mat\5mat.wcx

Use

Code: Select all

mat=287,%Commander_path%\plugins\wcx\5mat\5mat.wcx
fig=287,%Commander_path%\plugins\wcx\5mat\5mat.wcx

instead, which is the default configuration setting of the MATLAB Version 5 MAT-file plugin since Version 1.3.0.0.

tbeu

[djk]

2tbeu
Thanks, it really helps.
Anyway, AFAIR I didn't change it manually. Maybe one of older version of the plugin set it this way. I had installed an older version of it.

[tbeu]

Maybe one of older version of the plugin set it this way.

Correct. Older plugin versions set the 351 attributes.

[djk]

2tbeu & 2Juergen
Thanks for helping in solving the problem.

[Sheepdog]

Now I just wonder, how can I compare 2 mailboxes? How do I copy a mail from 1 mailbox directly into another mailbox?

I assume you're using Thunderbird or Mozilla.

Open both mailboxes in your favoured text editor, seach for the mail (maybe the subject or another keyword). Then select the text between first 'from' and the first 'from' of the next mail (here the blue marked text)
Make sure your Mail program is closed.

9D_mh4gNNtcoI-045og</font></td></tr></table></body></html>


From - Fri Mar 18 11:22:47 2005
X-Account-Key: account2
X-UIDL: 65ff3920edb40c03710e93f120034f07
X-Mozilla-Status: 0001
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From: bugzilla-daemon@mozilla.org
To: stepfahn@gmx.de
Subject: [Bug 158099] Need names for outgoing SMTP servers (for multiple SMTP users on same server & same port number)
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https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=158099


elmar.ludwig@uos.de changed:

What |Removed |Added
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CC| |junk@bbs.darktech.org




------- Additional Comments From elmar.ludwig@uos.de 2005-03-18 02:21 PST -------
*** Bug 286700 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***


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From - Tue Apr 05 12:12:36 2005
X-Account-Key: account2
X-UIDL: c07cefe518546e0a4206158dbd3bbd8d

Copy the text of your mail and paste it to the mailbox you want it in.
Set the
X-Mozilla-Status: 0000
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000

to zero (as shown above). and save the mailbox.
Now if you open your Thunderbird the copied mail will appear in the mailbox and will be shown as 'unread'.

That should do the trick. (Maybe you want only to set all X-Moziila-Status and Status 2 to zero in your old mailbox to let the mails reappear. All deleted mails ar still in the mailbox until you 'Compact this folder').

HTH

sheepdog

[Juergen]

2djk:
You are welcome. I'm glad that it now works for you. I'll add some text about this topic to the documentation. Thanks for directing my attention to this important matter.

Moreover, it also works ok if I've moved mbox plugin before 5mat.

So TC seems to call the plugins in the same order in which they are written in the [PackerPlugins] section of 'wincmd.ini', no?



2Botak:
I'm happy that the plugin helped you to find some mails. Well, TC probably has far more advanced searching capabilities than any mail client ...

Now I just wonder, how can I compare 2 mailboxes?

The plugin enables TC to treat mbox files almost in the same way as if they were "directories of mail files".

Open one mailbox in the left panel of TC, and the other mailbox in the right panel. Then you can choose from the main menu "Mark" > "Compare directories". You also can manually mark 2 mails in the same or in different panels, and then choose from the main menu "Files" > "Compare by Content...". When you choose "Commands" > "Synchronize Dirs..." you'll get a dialog box that offers several possibilities. Click at the [Compare] button to start the process. Right-clicking at an entry in the list of results shows a context menu with additional options. Please look at TC's help file for more details.

How do I copy a mail from 1 mailbox directly into another mailbox?

Just open one mailbox in the left panel of TC, and the other mailbox in the right panel. Select one or more mails that you want to copy, and press [F5]. If the mail(s) already exist in the target mbox file, TC will ask you whether or not you want to overwrite them. Voilà.

Regards, Juergen

[Juergen]

2Botak:
Whoops, sorry. I almost overlooked the last sentence of your post.

A new improvement might be (not sure if your plugin should do so ) but to show the mails formatted instead of plain text.

This would be a completely new game. Of course I've thought of it myself, but it certainly will not be in the final version 1.10. It might be better to have a separate plugin for this purpose anyway. As far as I am concerned, the main question is how much free time I'll have to do things like that.

Regards, Juergen