potential bug in UnixMailbox method of Python

[Steve Holden]

Sirshendu Rakshit wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am using UnixMailbox to parse an mbox file. This mbox file starts with
> the following lines.
> 
> From qtopic+errors at quicktopic.com  Tue May 18 01:43:12 2004
>>From qtopic+errors at quicktopic.com  Tue May 18 01:43:12 2004
> Return-Path: <qtopic+errors at quicktopic.com>
> X-Original-To: jm at localhost
> Delivered-To: jm at localhost.jmason.org
> ....
> ...
> 
> Now what I am seeing is that the '>From qtopic+errors at quicktopic.com 
> Tue May 18 01:43:12 2004' line is being returned as mail header by
> UnixMailbox.
> Which is not the case. I am not sure whether this is a bug in
> UnixMailbox. Or is it not handled in Active Python 2.3.5.
> 
> The http://www.qmail.org/man/man5/mbox.html
>  link says that while reading a mbox the >From_line should be stripped off.
> 
> Please help me out.

I believe the difference between UnixMailbox and other types is that the
UnixMailbox is specifically designed to identify the gaps between
messages by the blank line and the "From ....". While this isn't
technically RFC 2822 format, it's useful to have the header. If you
don't want it you can always throw it away ...

regards
 Steve
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