Trouble Sending Attachments to MailMan Lists with Eudora 6
Hello,
Last month we started to provide a MailMan (version 2.1.5) list for Public Libraries in Wisconsin. Sending messages with binary attachments (like Excel files) to MailMan lists with Eudora 6 seems to be problematic. The problem does not occur in testing with Netscape or Mozilla email clients. Many of our list subscribers stated that the attachment had become part of the text message as a large random table of text. Here is a sample of the problem:
--=====================_209060==_ Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="filename.xls"; x-mac-type="584C5334"; x-mac-creator="5843454C" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="filename.xls"
0M8R4KGxGuEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPgADAP7/CQAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAHgAAAAAAAAAA EAAA/v///wAAAAD+////AAAAAB0AAAD///////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////8J CBAAAAYFAF4fzQfZAAEABgEAAOEAAgCwBMEAAgAAAOIAAABcAHAABwAAcGJkYXZpcyAgICAgICAg ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAg ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgIEIAAgCwBGEBAgAAAMABAAA9AQgA BAABAAIAAwC
Has anyone experienced this before? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Dave Bacon - OWLS
-- _________________________________________
Dave G. Bacon
Computer Network Manager
Outagamie Waupaca Library System
225 N. Oneida St., Appleton, WI 54911
920/832-6193(voice), 920/832-6422(FAX)
mailto:dbacon@mail.owls.lib.wi.us
http://www.owls.lib.wi.us
_________________________________________
Dave Bacon wrote:
Sending messages with binary attachments (like Excel files) to MailMan lists with Eudora 6 seems to be problematic. The problem does not occur in testing with Netscape or Mozilla email clients. Many of our list subscribers stated that the attachment had become part of the text message as a large random table of text. Here is a sample of the problem:
--=====================_209060==_ Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="filename.xls"; x-mac-type="584C5334"; x-mac-creator="5843454C" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="filename.xls"
0M8R4KGxGuEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPgADAP7/CQAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAAAHgAAAAAAAAAA EAAA/v///wAAAAD+////AAAAAB0AAAD///////////////////////////////////////////// ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
<snip>
This is exactly what a MIME base64 encoded attachment looks like in a raw message. The question is - is it being seen this way because the recipient's MUA doesn't recognize the MIME format or because the overall MIME structure of the message has been corrupted somewhere along the way. Whether or not the MIME structure is corrupted cannot be answered from your excerpt. You'd have to see the entire raw message including the main headers and the sub-part headers to determine that. However, if SOME list subscribers see the attachment as an attachment, and they're not all using the same broken MUA, then the problem is likely in the MUA's of the people who don't see the attachment as such.
OTOH, if all or almost all recipients see the raw base64 part as above, then the structure of the message is probably being corrupted and Mailman may or may not be involved in this. The fact that it only happens with messages from Eudora 6 might implicate Eudora, but it's hard to say. I just tested sending a message with an attached binary file from Eudora 5.2 through Mailman 2.1.4 and the attachment came through as it should.
-- Mark Sapiro <msapiro@value.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
At 6:08 PM -0700 2004-08-30, Mark Sapiro wrote:
OTOH, if all or almost all recipients see the raw base64 part as above, then the structure of the message is probably being corrupted and Mailman may or may not be involved in this. The fact that it only happens with messages from Eudora 6 might implicate Eudora, but it's hard to say. I just tested sending a message with an attached binary file from Eudora 5.2 through Mailman 2.1.4 and the attachment came through as it should.
I use Eudora 6 myself, and I've never seen problems like this when posting messages with attachments through mailing lists that allow them. I've never had anyone complain that the resulting message munged, either.
I doubt the problem is with Eudora. There might be a mis-configured MTA somewhere along the line, however.
-- Brad Knowles, <brad@stop.mail-abuse.org>
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), reply of the Pennsylvania
Assembly to the Governor, November 11, 1755SAGE member since 1995. See <http://www.sage.org/> for more info.
participants (3)
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Brad Knowles -
Dave Bacon -
Mark Sapiro