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Mail-Box-2.042
River stage one • 8 direct dependents • 8 total dependents
16 ++
/ Mail::Box::Maildir

NAME

Mail::Box::Maildir - handle Maildir folders

INHERITANCE

 Mail::Box::Maildir
   is a Mail::Box::Dir
   is a Mail::Box
   is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS

 use Mail::Box::Maildir;
 my $folder = new Mail::Box::Maildir folder => $ENV{MAIL}, ...;

DESCRIPTION

This documentation describes how Maildir mailboxes work, and what you can do with the Maildir folder object Mail::Box::Maildir.

Maildir is not supported for Windows, because it create filenames which are not accepted by the Windows system.

OVERLOADED

overload: ""

overload: @{}

overload: cmp

METHODS

Constructors

$obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

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

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

    . folderdir DIRECTORY

Mail::Box::Maildir->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>     L<Mail::Message::Body::Lines|Mail::Message::Body::Lines>        
 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}/.maildir>                                          
 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_file          L<Mail::Box>     <not used>                                                      
 lock_timeout       L<Mail::Box>     <not used>                                                      
 lock_type          L<Mail::Box>     C<'NONE'> (constant)                                            
 lock_wait          L<Mail::Box>     <not used>                                                      
 locker             L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 log                L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'>                                                   
 manager            L<Mail::Box>     undef                                                           
 message_type       L<Mail::Box>     L<Mail::Box::Message|Mail::Box::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>                                                          
 trace              L<Mail::Reporter>  C<'WARNINGS'>                                                   
 trusted            L<Mail::Box>     <depends on folder location>

    . 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_file FILENAME

    . lock_timeout SECONDS

    . lock_type CLASS|STRING

    . lock_wait SECONDS

    . locker OBJECT

    . log LEVEL

    . manager MANAGER

    . message_type CLASS

    . multipart_type CLASS

    . remove_when_empty BOOLEAN

    . save_on_exit BOOLEAN

    . trace LEVEL

    . trusted BOOLEAN

The folder

$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE)

$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...])

Mail::Box::Maildir->appendMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->close(OPTIONS)

$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)

$obj->delete

$obj->directory

$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY])

Mail::Box::Maildir->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], OPTIONS)

$obj->name

$obj->organization

$obj->type

$obj->update(OPTIONS)

$obj->url

Folder flags

$obj->isModified

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])

$obj->writable

The messages

$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID])

$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID)

$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE])

$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE])

$obj->messageIds

$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER])

$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW)

Sub-folders

$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

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

$obj->nameOfSubFolder(NAME)

$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS)

$obj->openSubFolder(NAME, OPTIONS)

Internals

Mail::Box::Maildir->appendMessage(OPTIONS)

$obj->coerce(MESSAGE)

$obj->createDirs(FOLDERDIR)

Mail::Box::Maildir->createDirs(FOLDERDIR)

    The FOLDERDIR contains the absolute path of the location where the messages are kept. Maildir folders contain a tmp, new, and cur sub-directory within that folder directory as well. This method will ensure that all directories exist. Returns false on failure.

$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)

$obj->folderIsEmpty(FOLDERDIR)

Mail::Box::Maildir->folderIsEmpty(FOLDERDIR)

    Checks whether the folder whose directory is specified as absolute FOLDERDIR is empty or not. A folder is empty when the tmp, new, and cur subdirectories are empty and some files which are left there by application programs. The maildir spec explicitly states: .qmail, bulletintime, bulletinlock and seriallock. If any other files are found, the directory is considered not-empty.

$obj->folderToDirectory(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR)

$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])

$obj->locker

$obj->read(OPTIONS)

$obj->readMessageFilenames(DIRECTORY)

$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE)

$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES)

$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES)

$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->write(OPTIONS)

$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)

Other methods

$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Mail::Box::Maildir->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Error handling

$obj->AUTOLOAD

$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL, [LEVEL])

Mail::Box::Maildir->defaultTrace([LEVEL, [LEVEL])

$obj->errors

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

Mail::Box::Maildir->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Box::Maildir->logPriority(LEVEL)

$obj->logSettings

$obj->notImplemented

$obj->report([LEVEL])

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])

$obj->trace([LEVEL])

$obj->warnings

Cleanup

$obj->DESTROY

$obj->inGlobalDestruction

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: Cannot append Maildir message in $new to folder $self.

The message (or messages) could not be stored in the right directories for the Maildir folder.

Error: Cannot create Maildir directory $dir: $!

A Maildir folder is represented by a directory, with some sub-directories. The top folder directory could not be created for the reason indicated.

Error: Cannot create Maildir folder $name.

One or more of the directories required to administer a Maildir folder could not be created.

Error: Cannot create Maildir message file $new.

A message is converted from some other message format into a Maildir format by writing it to a file with a name which contains the status flags of the message. Apparently, creating this file failed.

Error: Cannot create Maildir subdir $dir: $!

Each Maildir folder has three sub-directories for administration: new, tmp, and cur. The mentioned directory could not be created 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: Folder $name is opened read-only

You can not write to this folder unless you have opened the folder to write or append with new(access), or the force option is set true.

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: Writing folder $name failed

For some reason (you probably got more error messages about this problem) it is impossible to write the folder, although you should because there were changes made.

DETAILS

The explanation is complicated, but for normal use you should bother yourself with all details.

How Maildir folders work

Maildir-type folders use a directory to store the messages of one folder. Each message is stored in a separate file. This seems useful, because changes in a folder change only a few of these small files, in contrast with file-based folders where changes in a folder cause rewrites of huge folder-files.

However, Maildir based folders perform very bad if you need header information of all messages. For instance, if you want to have full knowledge about all message-threads (see Mail::Box::Thread::Manager) in the folder, it requires to read all header lines in all message files. And usually, reading your messages as threads is desired. Maildir maintains a tiny amount of info visible in the filename, which may make it perform just a little bit faster than MH.

The following information was found at http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html. Each message is written in a separate file. The filename is constructed from the time-of-arrival, a unique component, hostname, a syntax marker, and flags. For example 1014220791.meteor.42:2,DF. The filename must match:

 my ($time, $unique, $hostname, $info)
    = $filename =~ m!^(\d+)\.(.*)\.(\w+)(\:.*)?$!;
 my ($semantics, $flags)
    = $info =~ m!([12])\,([RSTDF]+)$!;
 my @flags = split //, $flags;

The @flags are sorted alphabetically, with the following meanings:

 D = draft, to be sent later
 F = flagged for user-defined purpose
 R = has been replied
 S = seen / (partially) read by the user
 T = trashed, flagged to be deleted later

Labels

The filename contains flags, and those flags are translated into labels when the folder is opened. Labels can be changed by the application using Mail::Message::labels().

Changes will directly reflect in a filename change. The Status and X-Status lines in the header, which are used by Mbox kind of folders, are ignored except when a new message is received in the new directory. In case a message has to be written to file for some reason, the status header lines are updated as well.

REFERENCES

See the Mail::Box website at http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/ for more details.

COPYRIGHTS

Module version 2.042. 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.