[Python-Dev] Testers wanted: mailbox.py bugfix

Charles Cazabon python at discworld.dyndns.org
Wed Jan 17 22:36:58 CET 2007


A.M. Kuchling <amk at amk.ca> wrote:
> http://www.python.org/sf/1599254 is a bug in the mailbox.py module
> that affects single-file mailbox formats (mbox, Babyl, MMDF)
> and can cause data loss.

I can't speak for MMDF or Babyl, but it's a well-known requirement that all
programs on a system must use the same type of locking when mbox files are
used; the administrator picks his favourite (fcntl, dotlocking, whatever) and
then has to ensure all mbox-aware programs are compiled to use that locking
style.

> A proposed fix, mailbox-unified-patch, is attached to the bug.

I'm not sure that this actually fixes the problem, but more to the point --
I'm not sure it should try.  Any mail admin that deploys multiple mbox-aware
programs with different locking methods is shooting themselves in the foot,
regardless of whether Python tries to turn it into "just a flesh wound"...

Charles
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Charles Cazabon                           <python at discworld.dyndns.org>
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