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: "" See OVERLOADED in Mail::Box

overload: @{} See OVERLOADED in Mail::Box

overload: cmp See OVERLOADED in Mail::Box

Mail::Box::Mbox->new(OPTIONS)

 Option               Defined in       Default                                                         
 access               L<Mail::Box>     C<'r'>                                                          
 body_delayed_type    L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Body::Delayed|Mail::Message::Body::Delayed>    
 body_type            L<Mail::Box::File>  <see description>                                               
 coerce_options       L<Mail::Box>     C<[]>                                                           
 create               L<Mail::Box>     <false>                                                         
 extract              L<Mail::Box>     C<10240>                                                        
 field_type           L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 fix_headers          L<Mail::Box>     <false>                                                         
 folder               L<Mail::Box>     C<$ENV{MAIL}>                                                   
 folderdir            L<Mail::Box>     C<$ENV{HOME}.'/Mail'>                                           
 head_delayed_type    L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Head::Delayed|Mail::Message::Head::Delayed>    
 head_type            L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Head::Complete|Mail::Message::Head::Complete>  
 keep_dups            L<Mail::Box>     <false>                                                         
 lock_extension       L<Mail::Box::File>  C<'.lock'>                                                      
 lock_file            L<Mail::Box>     <foldername><lock-extension>                                    
 lock_timeout         L<Mail::Box>     1 hour                                                          
 lock_type            L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Box::Locker::DotLock|Mail::Box::Locker::DotLock>        
 lock_wait            L<Mail::Box>     10 seconds                                                      
 locker               L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 log                  L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'>                                                   
 manager              L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 message_type         L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Box::Mbox::Message|Mail::Box::Mbox::Message>            
 multipart_type       L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Message::Body::Multipart|Mail::Message::Body::Multipart>
 remove_when_empty    L<Mail::Box>     <true>                                                          
 save_on_exit         L<Mail::Box>     <true>                                                          
 subfolder_extension                   C<'.d'>                                                         
 trace                L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'>                                                   
 trusted              L<Mail::Box>     <depends on folder location>                                    
 write_policy         L<Mail::Box::File>  undef

$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...]) See The folder in Mail::Box

Mail::Box::Mbox->appendMessages(OPTIONS) See METHODS in Mail::Box::File

$obj->close(OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->delete(OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->filename See The folder in Mail::Box::File

$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY]) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->name See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->organization See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->size See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->type See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->update(OPTIONS) See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->url See The folder in Mail::Box

$obj->access See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->isModified See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN]) See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->writable See Folder flags in Mail::Box

$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->messageIds See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER]) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW) See The messages in Mail::Box

$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Mbox->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

 Option               Defined in       Default              
 check                L<Mail::Box>     <false>              
 folder               L<Mail::Box>     <from calling object>
 folderdir            L<Mail::Box>     <from folder>        
 skip_empty           L<Mail::Box>     <false>              
 subfolder_extension                   <from object>

$obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])

Mail::Box::Mbox->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME]) See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS) See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->openSubFolder(SUBNAME, OPTIONS) See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->topFolderWithMessages

Mail::Box::Mbox->topFolderWithMessages See Sub-folders in Mail::Box

$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Mbox->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

 Option               Defined in       Default
 folderdir            L<Mail::Box>     undef  
 subfolder_extension                   undef

$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD) See Internals in Mail::Box

$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 CW=. If no EXTENSION is specified and this method is called as instance method, new(subfolder_extension) is used. Otherwise, the extension default to CW'.d'.

Mail::Box::Mbox->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], [OPTIONS]) If no FOLDERNAME is specified, then the value of the CWfolder option is taken. A mbox folder is a file which starts with a separator line: a line with CW'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            L<Mail::Box>     undef        
 subfolder_extension                   <from object>

$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF']) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->locker See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->messageCreateOptions([TYPE, CONFIG]) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->moveAwaySubFolder(DIRECTORY, EXTENSION) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->parser See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->read(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES) See Internals in Mail::Box

$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->write(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box::File

$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS) See Internals in Mail::Box

File based folders

$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Mail::Box::Mbox->timespan2seconds(TIME) See Other methods in Mail::Box

$obj->AUTOLOAD See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->addReport(OBJECT) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

Mail::Box::Mbox->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->errors See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

Mail::Box::Mbox->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Box::Mbox->logPriority(LEVEL) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->logSettings See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->notImplemented See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->report([LEVEL]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->trace([LEVEL]) See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->warnings See Error handling in Mail::Reporter

$obj->DESTROY See Cleanup in Mail::Box

$obj->inGlobalDestruction See Cleanup in Mail::Reporter

Error: Cannot append messages to folder file CW$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 CW$dir

Warning: Cannot remove folder CW$name file CW$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 CW$name file CW$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 (CW0) may be needed to avoid this message.

Error: Cannot replace CW$filename by CW$tempname, to update folder CW$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 CW$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 CWNEVER.

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 CW$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 CW$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 CW$nr ($size, CW$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 CW$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 CWdelete 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 CW@, and then a domain name. This is made to avoid the creation of two messages with the same id. The warning emerges when the CW@ is missing from the string.

Error: Package CW$package does not implement CW$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 CW$name of CW$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 CW$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.

MBOX folders store many messages in one file. Each message begins with a line which starts with the string CWFrom . Lines inside a message which accidentally start with CWFrom 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 CWFrom 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 CWMail/subject1, with the folders in that directory as sub-folders for it. You may also use

 Mail/subject1
 Mail/subject1.d/

where CWMail/subject1 is the folder, and the folders in the CWMail/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.

See the MailBox website at <http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/> for more details.

Distribution version 2.063. Written by Mark Overmeer (mark@overmeer.net). See the ChangeLog for other contributors.

Copyright (c) 2001-2003 by the author(s). All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.