Mail::Box::Mbox - handle folders in Mbox format
Mail::Box::Mbox is a Mail::Box::File is a Mail::Box is a Mail::Reporter
use Mail::Box::Mbox; my $folder = Mail::Box::Mbox->new(folder => $ENV{MAIL}, ...);
This documentation describes how Mbox mailboxes work, and also describes what you can do with the Mbox folder object Mail::Box::Mbox.
overload: ""
overload: @{}
overload: cmp
Mail::Box::Mbox->new(OPTIONS)
Option --Defined in --Default access Mail::Box 'r' body_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Delayed body_type Mail::Box::File <see description> coerce_options Mail::Box [] create Mail::Box <false> extract Mail::Box 10240 field_type Mail::Box undef fix_headers Mail::Box <false> folder Mail::Box $ENV{MAIL} folderdir Mail::Box $ENV{HOME}.'/Mail' head_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Head::Delayed head_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Head::Complete keep_dups Mail::Box <false> lock_extension Mail::Box::File '.lock' lock_file Mail::Box <foldername><lock-extension> lock_timeout Mail::Box 1 hour lock_type Mail::Box Mail::Box::Locker::DotLock lock_wait Mail::Box 10 seconds locker Mail::Box undef log Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS' manager Mail::Box undef message_type Mail::Box Mail::Box::Mbox::Message multipart_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Multipart remove_when_empty Mail::Box <true> save_on_exit Mail::Box <true> subfolder_extension '.d' trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS' trusted Mail::Box <depends on folder location> write_policy Mail::Box::File undef
. access => MODE
. body_delayed_type => CLASS
. body_type => CLASS|CODE
. coerce_options => ARRAY
. create => BOOLEAN
. extract => INTEGER | CODE | METHOD | 'LAZY'|'ALWAYS'
. field_type => CLASS
. fix_headers => BOOLEAN
. folder => FOLDERNAME
. folderdir => DIRECTORY
. head_delayed_type => CLASS
. head_type => CLASS
. keep_dups => BOOLEAN
. lock_extension => FILENAME|STRING
. lock_file => FILENAME
. lock_timeout => SECONDS
. lock_type => CLASS|STRING|ARRAY
. lock_wait => SECONDS
. locker => OBJECT
. log => LEVEL
. manager => MANAGER
. message_type => CLASS
. multipart_type => CLASS
. remove_when_empty => BOOLEAN
. save_on_exit => BOOLEAN
. subfolder_extension => STRING
Mbox folders do not support sub-folders. However, this module can
simulate sub-directories if the user wants it to. When a subfolder of
folder xyz
is created, we create a directory which is called xyz.d
to contain them. This extension .d
can be changed using this option.
. trace => LEVEL
. trusted => BOOLEAN
. write_policy => 'REPLACE'|'INPLACE'|undef
$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...])
Mail::Box::Mbox->appendMessages(OPTIONS)
$obj->close(OPTIONS)
$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)
$obj->delete(OPTIONS)
$obj->filename
See Mail::Box::File/"The folder"
$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY])
$obj->name
$obj->organization
$obj->size
$obj->type
$obj->update(OPTIONS)
$obj->url
$obj->access
$obj->isModified
$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])
$obj->writable
$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID])
$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID)
$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]])
$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE])
$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE])
$obj->messageIds
$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER])
$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS)
$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW)
$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
Mail::Box::Mbox->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
Option --Defined in --Default check Mail::Box <false> folder Mail::Box <from calling object> folderdir Mail::Box <from folder> skip_empty Mail::Box <false> subfolder_extension <from object>
. check => BOOLEAN
. folder => FOLDERNAME
. folderdir => DIRECTORY
. skip_empty => BOOL
. subfolder_extension => STRING
When the method is called on an open folder, the extension defined by it is
used to detect sub-folders by default. Otherwise, '.d'
is taken.
$obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
Mail::Box::Mbox->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS)
$obj->openSubFolder(SUBNAME, OPTIONS)
$obj->topFolderWithMessages
Mail::Box::Mbox->topFolderWithMessages
$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
$obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)
Mail::Box::Mbox->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)
Option --Defined in --Default folderdir Mail::Box undef subfolder_extension undef
. folderdir => DIRECTORY
. subfolder_extension => STRING
If a directory is found on the location of the folder to be created, this STRING is used to extend that directory name with. This will cause the directory to be seen as sub-folder for the created folder. This argument is passed to folderToFilename().
$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)
$obj->folderToFilename(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR, [EXTENSION])
Mail::Box::Mbox->folderToFilename(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR, [EXTENSION])
Translate a folder name into a filename, using the
FOLDERDIR value to replace a leading =
. If no EXTENSION is specified and
this method is called as instance method, new(subfolder_extension) is used.
Otherwise, the extension default to '.d'
.
Mail::Box::Mbox->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], [OPTIONS])
If no FOLDERNAME is specified, then the value of the folder
option
is taken. A mbox folder is a file which starts with a separator
line: a line with 'From '
as first characters. Blank lines which
start the file are ignored, which is not for all MUA's acceptable.
Option --Defined in --Default folder undef folderdir Mail::Box undef subfolder_extension <from object>
. folder => FOLDERNAME
. folderdir => DIRECTORY
. subfolder_extension => STRING
$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])
$obj->locker
$obj->messageCreateOptions([TYPE, CONFIG])
See Mail::Box::File/"Internals"
$obj->moveAwaySubFolder(DIRECTORY, EXTENSION)
See Mail::Box::File/"Internals"
$obj->parser
See Mail::Box::File/"Internals"
$obj->read(OPTIONS)
$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS)
$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE)
$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES)
$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES)
$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS)
See Mail::Box::File/"Internals"
$obj->write(OPTIONS)
See Mail::Box::File/"Internals"
$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)
$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)
Mail::Box::Mbox->timespan2seconds(TIME)
$obj->AUTOLOAD
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->addReport(OBJECT)
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
Mail::Box::Mbox->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->errors
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
Mail::Box::Mbox->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)
Mail::Box::Mbox->logPriority(LEVEL)
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->logSettings
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->notImplemented
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->report([LEVEL])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->trace([LEVEL])
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->warnings
See Mail::Reporter/"Error handling"
$obj->DESTROY
$obj->inGlobalDestruction
MBOX folders store many messages in one file. Each message begins with a
line which starts with the string From
. Lines inside a message which
accidentally start with From
are, in the file, preceded by `>'. This
character is stripped when the message is read.
In this respect must be noted that the format of the MBOX files is not
strictly defined. The exact content of the separator lines differ between
Mail User Agents (MUA's). Besides, some MUAs (like mutt) forget to encode
the From
lines within message bodies, breaking other parsers....
MBOX folders do not have a sub-folder concept as directory based folders do, but this MBOX module tries to simulate them. In this implementation a directory like
Mail/subject1/
is taken as an empty folder Mail/subject1
, with the folders in that
directory as sub-folders for it. You may also use
Mail/subject1 Mail/subject1.d/
where Mail/subject1
is the folder, and the folders in the
Mail/subject1.d
directory are used as sub-folders. If your situation
is similar to the first example and you want to put messages in that empty
folder, the directory is automatically (and transparently) renamed, so
that the second situation is reached.
Error: Cannot append messages to folder file $filename: $!
Appending messages to a not-opened file-organized folder may fail when the operating system does not allow write access to the file at hand.
Error: Cannot move away sub-folder $dir
Warning: Cannot remove folder $name file $filename: $!
Writing an empty folder will usually cause that folder to be removed, which fails for the indicated reason. new(remove_when_empty)
Warning: Cannot remove folder $name file $filename: $!
Writing an empty folder will usually cause that folder to be removed,
which fails for the indicated reason. new(remove_when_empty)
controls whether the empty folder will removed; setting it to false
(0
) may be needed to avoid this message.
Error: Cannot replace $filename by $tempname, to update folder $name: $!
The replace policy wrote a new folder file to update the existing, but was unable to give the final touch: replacing the old version of the folder file for the indicated reason.
Warning: Changes not written to read-only folder $self.
You have opened the folder read-only --which is the default set
by new(access)--, made modifications, and now want to close it.
Set close(force) if you want to overrule the access mode, or close
the folder with close(write) set to NEVER
.
Error: Copying failed for one message.
For some reason, for instance disc full, removed by external process, or read-protection, it is impossible to copy one of the messages. Copying will proceed for the other messages.
Error: Destination folder $name is not writable.
The folder where the messages are copied to is not opened with write access (see new(access)). This has no relation with write permission to the folder which is controled by your operating system.
Warning: Different messages with id $msgid
The message id is discovered more than once within the same folder, but the content of the message seems to be different. This should not be possible: each message must be unique.
Error: File too short to get write message $nr ($size, $need)
Mail::Box is lazy: it tries to leave messages in the folders until they are used, which saves time and memory usage. When this message appears, something is terribly wrong: some lazy message are needed for updating the folder, but they cannot be retreived from the original file anymore. In this case, messages can be lost.
This message does appear regularly on Windows systems when using the 'replace' write policy. Please help to find the cause, probably something to do with Windows incorrectly handling multiple filehandles open in the same file.
Error: Folder $name not deleted: not writable.
The folder must be opened with write access via new(access), otherwise
removing it will be refused. So, you may have write-access according to
the operating system, but that will not automatically mean that this
delete
method permits you to. The reverse remark is valid as well.
Error: Invalid timespan '$timespan' specified.
The string does not follow the strict rules of the time span syntax which is permitted as parameter.
Warning: Message-id '$msgid' does not contain a domain.
According to the RFCs, message-ids need to contain a unique random part,
then an @
, and then a domain name. This is made to avoid the creation
of two messages with the same id. The warning emerges when the @
is
missing from the string.
Error: Package $package does not implement $method.
Fatal error: the specific package (or one of its superclasses) does not implement this method where it should. This message means that some other related classes do implement this method however the class at hand does not. Probably you should investigate this and probably inform the author of the package.
Error: Unable to create subfolder $name of $folder.
The copy includes the subfolders, but for some reason it was not possible to copy one of these. Copying will proceed for all other sub-folders.
Error: Unable to update folder $self.
When a folder is to be written, both replace and inplace write policies are tried, If both fail, the whole update fails. You may see other, related, error messages to indicate the real problem.
This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.082, built on April 28, 2008. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/
Copyrights 2001-2008 by Mark Overmeer. For other contributors see ChangeLog.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. See http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html