Very Computer

by **Sam** » Fri, 17 Dec 1999 04:00:00

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Quote:> Is there an RFC or some other document detailing the format for MBX mailbox
> files?

I hope not. That format is too stupid to be made into any kind of a
recognized standard.

It's just one file, and individual messages are delimited by a line
starting with 5 characters 'From ', followed by the envelope sender and the
UNIX datestamp. Any lines in the message itself that start with 'From '
are prefixed by the > character.

Actually, to be completely correct. Any lines that start with the regexp
">*From " have one > added on, which should be transparently removed by the
MUA, but, few installations implement this properly.

Additionally, the whole mess must be locked during any kind of access, and
each particular system uses its own favorite locking mechanism.

What a mess.

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by **Jeff Grossma** » Fri, 17 Dec 1999 04:00:00

>> Is there an RFC or some other document detailing the format for MBX mailbox
>> files?

>I hope not. That format is too stupid to be made into any kind of a
>recognized standard.

>It's just one file, and individual messages are delimited by a line
>starting with 5 characters 'From ', followed by the envelope sender and the
>UNIX datestamp. Any lines in the message itself that start with 'From '
>are prefixed by the > character.

>Actually, to be completely correct. Any lines that start with the regexp
>">*From " have one > added on, which should be transparently removed by the
>MUA, but, few installations implement this properly.

>Additionally, the whole mess must be locked during any kind of access, and
>each particular system uses its own favorite locking mechanism.

>What a mess.

Are you sure you are not talking about mbox format? The original
message was about mbx format. Those are two different formats. Mbx
format allows multiple read and write access to the file. Where mbox
format does not.

Jeff
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Very Computer

Unix MBX Mailbox format

Unix MBX Mailbox format

Unix MBX Mailbox format