Mail users, especially in non-English countries, often find that mail
messages arrived in different formats, with different content types, in
different encodings and charsets. Usually this is good because it allows us to
-use apropriate format/encoding/whatever. Sometimes, though, some unification is
-desireable. For example, one may want to put mail messages into an archive,
-make HTML indicies, run search indexer, etc. In such situations converting
-messages to text in one character set and skipping some binary atachmetnts is
-much desireable.
+use appropriate format/encoding/whatever. Sometimes, though, some unification
+is desirable. For example, one may want to put mail messages into an archive,
+make HTML indices, run search indexer, etc. In such situations converting
+messages to text in one character set and skipping some binary attachments is
+much desirable.
Here is the solution - mimedecode.py.
This is a program to decode MIME messages. The program expects one input
-file (either on command line or on stdin) which is treated as an RFC822 mesage,
-and decoded to stdout. If the file is not an RFC822 message it is just piped to
-stdout one-to-one. If the file is a simple RFC822 message it is just decoded as
-one part. If it is a MIME message with multiple parts ("attachments") all parts
-are decoded. Decoding can be controlled by command-line options.
+file (either on command line or on stdin) which is treated as an RFC822
+message, and decodes to stdout or an output file. If the file is not an RFC822
+message it is just copied to the output one-to-one. If the file is a simple
+RFC822 message it is decoded as one part. If it is a MIME message with multiple
+parts ("attachments") all parts are decoded. Decoding can be controlled by
+command-line options.
WHAT'S NEW in version 2.3.2 (2014-02-01)
Fix a bug - do not generate 'From ' headers in subparts.
Oleg Broytman <phd@phdru.name>
COPYRIGHT
- Copyright (C) 2001-2014 PhiloSoft Design
+ Copyright (C) 2001-2014 PhiloSoft Design.
LICENSE
GPL
</para>
<para>
- It is a program to decode MIME messages. The program expects one input file
-(either on the command line or on stdin) which is treated as an RFC822 message,
-and decoded to stdout. If the file is not an RFC822 message it is just piped to
-stdout as is. If the file is a simple RFC822 message it is just decoded as one
-part. If it is a MIME message with multiple parts ("attachments") all parts are
-decoded recursively. Decoding can be controlled by the command-line options.
+ This is a program to decode MIME messages. The program expects one input
+file (either on command line or on stdin) which is treated as an RFC822
+message, and decodes to stdout or an output file. If the file is not an RFC822
+message it is just copied to the output one-to-one. If the file is a simple
+RFC822 message it is decoded as one part. If it is a MIME message with multiple
+parts ("attachments") all parts are decoded. Decoding can be controlled by
+command-line options.
</para>
<para>
First, Subject and Content-Disposition headers are examined. If any of those
-exists, it is decoded according to RFC2047. Content-Disposition header is not
-decoded - only its "filename" parameter. Encoded header parameters violate
-the RFC, but widely deployed anyway, especially in the M$ Ophice GUI (often
-referred as "Windoze") world, where programmers are often ignorant lamers who
-never even heard about RFCs. Correct parameter encoding specified by RFC2231.
-This program decodes RFC2231-encoded parameters, too.
+ exists, it is decoded according to RFC2047. Content-Disposition header is
+ not decoded - only its "filename" parameter. Encoded header parameters
+ violate the RFC, but widely deployed anyway by ignorant coders who never
+ even heard about RFCs. Correct parameter encoding specified by RFC2231. This
+ program decodes RFC2231-encoded parameters, too.
</para>
<para>
Then the body of the message (or the current part) is decoded. Decoding
-starts with looking at header Content-Transfer-Encoding. If the header
-specifies non-8bit encoding (usually base64 or quoted-printable), the body
-converted to 8bit. Then, if its content type is multipart (multipart/related or
-multipart/mixed, e.g) every part is recursively decoded. If it is not
-multipart, mailcap database is consulted to find a way to convert the body to
-plain text. (I have no idea how mailcap could be configured on said M$ Ophice
-GUI, please don't ask me; real OS users can consult my example at
-<ulink url="http://phdru.name/Software/dotfiles/mailcap.html">http://phdru.name/Software/dotfiles/mailcap.html</ulink>).
-The decoding process uses first copiousoutput filter it can find. If there is
-no any filter the body just passed unconverted.
+ starts with looking at header Content-Transfer-Encoding. If the header
+ specifies non-8bit encoding (usually base64 or quoted-printable), the body
+ converted to 8bit. Then, if its content type is multipart (multipart/related
+ or multipart/mixed, e.g) every part is recursively decoded. If it is not
+ multipart, mailcap database is consulted to find a way to convert the body
+ to plain text. (I have no idea how mailcap can be configured on OSes other
+ than POSIX, please don't ask me; real OS users can consult my example at
+
<ulink url="http://phdru.name/Software/dotfiles/mailcap.html">http://phdru.name/Software/dotfiles/mailcap.html</ulink>).
+ The decoding process uses the first copiousoutput filter it can find. If
+ there is no any filter the body just passed as is.
</para>
<para>
- Then Content-Type header consulted for charset. If it is not equal to
-current default charset the body text recoded. Finally message headers and body
-flushed to stdout.
+ Then Content-Type header is consulted for charset. If it is not equal to the
+ current locale charset the body text is recoded. Finally message headers and
+ the body are flushed to stdout.
</para>
</refsect1>
correct MIME output. The incorrect parts are obvious - decoded Subject headers
and filenames. Other than that output is correct MIME message. The program does
not try to guess whether the headers are correct. For example, if a message
-header states that charset is iso8859-5, but the body is actually in koi8-r -
+header states that charset is iso8859-5, but the body is actually in utf-8
the program will recode the message with the wrong charset.
</para>
</refsect1>
projects / mimedecode.git / commitdiff