NAME¶
Mail::Box::File - handle file-based folders
INHERITANCE¶
Mail::Box::File
is a Mail::Box
is a Mail::Reporter
Mail::Box::File is extended by
Mail::Box::Dbx
Mail::Box::Mbox
DESCRIPTION¶
"Mail::Box::File" is the base-class for all file-based folders:
folders which bundle multiple messages into one single file. Usually, these
messages are separated by a special line which indicates the start of the next
one.
OVERLOADED¶
- overload: ""()
- See "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
- overload: @{}()
- See "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
- overload: cmp()
- See "OVERLOADED" in Mail::Box
METHODS¶
Constructors¶
- Mail::Box::File->new(OPTIONS)
-
-Option --Defined in --Default
access Mail::Box 'r'
body_delayed_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
body_type <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 '.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::File::Message
multipart_type Mail::Box Mail::Message::Body::Multipart
remove_when_empty Mail::Box <true>
save_on_exit Mail::Box <true>
trace Mail::Reporter 'WARNINGS'
trusted Mail::Box <depends on folder location>
write_policy undef
- access => MODE
- body_delayed_type => CLASS
- body_type => CLASS|CODE
- The default "body_type" option for
"File" folders, which will cause messages larger than 10kB to be
stored in files and smaller files in memory, is implemented like this:
sub determine_body_type($$)
{ my $head = shift;
my $size = shift || 0;
'Mail::Message::Body::'
. ($size > 10000 ? 'File' : 'Lines');
}
- 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
- When the dotlock locking mechanism is used, the lock is
created with a hardlink to the folder file. For
"Mail::Box::File" type of folders, this file is by default named
as the folder-file itself followed by ".lock". For example: the
"Mail/inbox" folder file will have a hardlink made as
"Mail/inbox.lock".
You may specify an absolute filename, a relative (to the folder's directory)
filename, or an extension (preceded by a dot). So valid examples are:
.lock # appended to the folder's filename
my_own_lockfile.test # full filename, same dir
/etc/passwd # somewhere else
When the program runs with less priviledges (as normal user), often the
default inbox folder can not be locked with the lockfile name which is
produced by default.
- 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
- trace => LEVEL
- trusted => BOOLEAN
- write_policy => 'REPLACE'|'INPLACE'|undef
- Sets the default write policy, as default for a later call
to write(policy). With "undef", the best policy is
autodetected.
The folder¶
- $obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
- See "The folder" in Mail::Box
- $obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...])
- See "The folder" in Mail::Box
- Mail::Box::File->appendMessages(OPTIONS)
- Appending messages to a file based folder which is not
opened is a little risky. In practice, this is often done without locking
the folder. So, another application may write to the folder at the same
time... :( Hopefully, all goes fast enough that the chance on collition is
small.
All OPTIONS of Mail::Box::Mbox::new() can be supplied.
-Option --Defined in --Default
folder Mail::Box <required>
lock_type NONE
message Mail::Box undef
messages Mail::Box undef
share Mail::Box <false>
- folder => FOLDERNAME
- lock_type => ...
- See Mail::Box::new(lock_type) for possible values.
- message => MESSAGE
- messages => ARRAY-OF-MESSAGES
- share => BOOLEAN
- $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()
- Returns the filename for this folder, which may be an
absolute or relative path to the file.
example:
print $folder->filename;
- $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
Folder flags¶
- $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
The messages¶
- $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
Sub-folders¶
- $obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
- Mail::Box::File->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)
- See "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
- $obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])
- Mail::Box::File->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::File->topFolderWithMessages()
- See "Sub-folders" in Mail::Box
Internals¶
- $obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)
- See "Internals" in Mail::Box
- $obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)
- Mail::Box::File->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)
-
-Option --Defined in--Default
folderdir Mail::Box undef
- $obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)
- See "Internals" in Mail::Box
- $obj->folderToFilename(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR,
[SUBEXT])
- Mail::Box::File->folderToFilename(FOLDERNAME,
FOLDERDIR, [SUBEXT])
- Translate a folder name into a filename, using the
FOLDERDIR value to replace a leading "=". SUBEXT is only used
for MBOX folders.
- Mail::Box::File->foundIn([FOLDERNAME],
OPTIONS)
- See "Internals" in Mail::Box
- $obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])
- See "Internals" in Mail::Box
- $obj->locker()
- See "Internals" in Mail::Box
- $obj->messageCreateOptions([TYPE, CONFIG])
- Returns a key-value list of options to be used each time a
new message is read from a file. The list is preceded by the TYPE of
message which has to be created.
This data is used by readMessages() and updateMessages(). With
TYPE and CONFIG, a new configuration is set.
- $obj->moveAwaySubFolder(DIRECTORY,
EXTENSION)
- The DIRECTORY is renamed by appending the EXTENSION, which
defaults to ".d", to make place for a folder file on that
specific location. "false" is returned if this failed.
- $obj->parser()
- Create a parser for this mailbox. The parser stays alive as
long as the folder is open.
- $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)
- For file based folders, the file handle stays open until
the folder is closed. Update is therefore rather simple: move to the end
of the last known message, and continue reading...
- $obj->write(OPTIONS)
-
-Option --Defined in --Default
force Mail::Box <false>
policy undef
save_deleted Mail::Box <false>
- force => BOOLEAN
- policy => 'REPLACE'|'INPLACE'|undef
- In what way will the mail folder be updated. If not
specified during the write, the value of the new(write_policy) at folder
creation is taken.
Valid values:
- •
- "REPLACE"
First a new folder is written in the same directory as the folder which has
to be updated, and then a call to move will throw away the old immediately
replacing it by the new.
Writing in "REPLACE" module is slightly optimized: messages which
are not modified are copied from file to file, byte by byte. This is much
faster than printing the data which is will be done for modified
messages.
- •
- "INPLACE"
The original folder file will be opened read/write. All message which where
not changed will be left untouched, until the first deleted or modified
message is detected. All further messages are printed again.
- •
- "undef"
As default, or when "undef" is explicitly specified, first
"REPLACE" mode is tried. Only when that fails, an
"INPLACE" update is performed.
"INPLACE" will be much faster than "REPLACE" when applied on
large folders, however requires the "truncate" function to be
implemented on your operating system (at least available for recent versions
of Linux, Solaris, Tru64, HPUX). It is also dangerous: when the program is
interrupted during the update process, the folder is corrupted. Data may be
lost.
However, in some cases it is not possible to write the folder with
"REPLACE". For instance, the usual incoming mail folder on UNIX is
stored in a directory where a user can not write. Of course, the
"root" and "mail" users can, but if you want to use this
Perl module with permission of a normal user, you can only get it to work in
"INPLACE" mode. Be warned that in this case folder locking via a
lockfile is not possible as well.
- save_deleted => BOOLEAN
- $obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)
- See "Internals" in Mail::Box
Other methods¶
- $obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)
- Mail::Box::File->timespan2seconds(TIME)
- See "Other methods" in Mail::Box
Error handling¶
- $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::File->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::File->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])
- See "Error handling" in Mail::Reporter
- $obj->logPriority(LEVEL)
- Mail::Box::File->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
Cleanup¶
- $obj->DESTROY()
- See "Cleanup" in Mail::Box
- $obj->inGlobalDestruction()
- See "Cleanup" in Mail::Reporter
DETAILS¶
File based folders
File based folders maintain a folder (a set of messages) in one single file. The
advantage is that your folder has only one single name, which speeds-up access
to all messages at once.
The disadvantage over directory based folder (see Mail::Box::Dir) is that you
have to construct some means to keep all message apart, for instance by adding
a message separator, and this will cause problems. Where access to all
messages at once is faster in file based folders, access to a single message
is (much) slower, because the whole folder must be read.
DIAGNOSTICS¶
- 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 create directory $dir for folder $name.
- While creating a file-organized folder, at most one level
of directories is created above it. Apparently, more levels of directories
are needed, or the operating system does not allow you to create the
directory.
- Error: Cannot create folder file $name: $!
- The file-organized folder file cannot be created for the
indicated reason. In common cases, the operating system does not grant you
write access to the directory where the folder file should be stored.
- Error: Cannot get a lock on $type folder $self.
- A lock is required to get access to the folder. If no
locking is needed, specify the NONE lock type.
- 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.
- Warning: Folder $name file $filename is
write-protected.
- The folder is opened writable or for appending via
new(access), but the operating system does not permit writing to the file.
The folder will be opened read-only.
- 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.
SEE ALSO¶
This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.105, built on May 07,
2012. Website:
http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/
LICENSE¶
Copyrights 2001-2012 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