/ 
Mail-Box-2.087
River stage one • 8 direct dependents • 8 total dependents
/ Mail::Box::Maildir

NAME

Mail::Box::Maildir - handle Maildir folders

INHERITANCE

Mail::Box::Maildir
  is a Mail::Box::Dir
  is a Mail::Box
  is a Mail::Reporter

SYNOPSIS

use Mail::Box::Maildir;
my $folder = new Mail::Box::Maildir folder => $ENV{MAIL}, ...;

DESCRIPTION

This documentation describes how Maildir mailboxes work, and what you can do with the Maildir folder object Mail::Box::Maildir.

Maildir is not supported for Windows, because it create filenames which are not accepted by the Windows system.

OVERLOADED

overload: ""

overload: @{}

overload: cmp

METHODS

Constructors

Mail::Box::Maildir->new(OPTIONS)

    Option           --Defined in     --Default
accept_new                          <false>
access             Mail::Box        'r'
body_delayed_type  Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Body::Delayed
body_type          Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Body::Lines
coerce_options     Mail::Box        []
create             Mail::Box        <false>
directory          Mail::Box::Dir   <derived from folder name>
extract            Mail::Box        10240
field_type         Mail::Box        undef
fix_headers        Mail::Box        <false>
folder             Mail::Box        $ENV{MAIL}
folderdir          Mail::Box        $ENV{HOME}/.maildir
head_delayed_type  Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Head::Delayed
head_type          Mail::Box        Mail::Message::Head::Complete
keep_dups          Mail::Box        <false>
lock_file          Mail::Box        <not used>
lock_timeout       Mail::Box        <not used>
lock_type          Mail::Box        'NONE' (constant)
lock_wait          Mail::Box        <not used>
locker             Mail::Box        undef
log                Mail::Reporter   'WARNINGS'
manager            Mail::Box        undef
message_type       Mail::Box        Mail::Box::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>

    . accept_new => BOOLEAN

    . access => MODE

    . body_delayed_type => CLASS

    . body_type => CLASS|CODE

    . coerce_options => ARRAY

    . create => BOOLEAN

    . directory => DIRECTORY

    . 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_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

The folder

$obj->addMessage(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)

$obj->addMessages(MESSAGE [, MESSAGE, ...])

Mail::Box::Maildir->appendMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->close(OPTIONS)

$obj->copyTo(FOLDER, OPTIONS)

$obj->delete(OPTIONS)

$obj->directory

$obj->folderdir([DIRECTORY])

$obj->name

$obj->organization

$obj->size

$obj->type

$obj->update(OPTIONS)

$obj->url

Folder flags

$obj->access

$obj->isModified

$obj->modified([BOOLEAN])

$obj->writable

The messages

$obj->current([NUMBER|MESSAGE|MESSAGE-ID])

$obj->find(MESSAGE-ID)

$obj->findFirstLabeled(LABEL, [BOOLEAN, [ARRAY-OF-MSGS]])

$obj->message(INDEX [,MESSAGE])

$obj->messageId(MESSAGE-ID [,MESSAGE])

$obj->messageIds

$obj->messages(['ALL',RANGE,'ACTIVE','DELETED',LABEL,!LABEL,FILTER])

$obj->nrMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->scanForMessages(MESSAGE, MESSAGE-IDS, TIMESPAN, WINDOW)

Sub-folders

$obj->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Maildir->listSubFolders(OPTIONS)

$obj->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])

Mail::Box::Maildir->nameOfSubFolder(SUBNAME, [PARENTNAME])

$obj->openRelatedFolder(OPTIONS)

$obj->openSubFolder(SUBNAME, OPTIONS)

$obj->topFolderWithMessages

Mail::Box::Maildir->topFolderWithMessages

Internals

$obj->acceptMessages

    Accept all messages which are waiting in the new directory to be moved to the cur directory. This will not rescan the directory for newly arrived messages, because that's a task for update().

Mail::Box::Maildir->appendMessage(OPTIONS)

$obj->coerce(MESSAGE, OPTIONS)

$obj->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

Mail::Box::Maildir->create(FOLDERNAME, OPTIONS)

    Option   --Defined in--Default
folderdir  Mail::Box   undef

    . folderdir => DIRECTORY

$obj->createDirs(FOLDERDIR)

Mail::Box::Maildir->createDirs(FOLDERDIR)

    The FOLDERDIR contains the absolute path of the location where the messages are kept. Maildir folders contain a tmp, new, and cur sub-directory within that folder directory as well. This method will ensure that all directories exist. Returns false on failure.

$obj->determineBodyType(MESSAGE, HEAD)

$obj->folderIsEmpty(FOLDERDIR)

Mail::Box::Maildir->folderIsEmpty(FOLDERDIR)

    Checks whether the folder whose directory is specified as absolute FOLDERDIR is empty or not. A folder is empty when the tmp, new, and cur subdirectories are empty and some files which are left there by application programs. The maildir spec explicitly states: .qmail, bulletintime, bulletinlock and seriallock. If any other files are found, the directory is considered not-empty.

$obj->folderToDirectory(FOLDERNAME, FOLDERDIR)

Mail::Box::Maildir->foundIn([FOLDERNAME], OPTIONS)

$obj->lineSeparator([STRING|'CR'|'LF'|'CRLF'])

$obj->locker

$obj->read(OPTIONS)

$obj->readMessageFilenames(DIRECTORY)

$obj->readMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->storeMessage(MESSAGE)

$obj->toBeThreaded(MESSAGES)

$obj->toBeUnthreaded(MESSAGES)

$obj->updateMessages(OPTIONS)

$obj->write(OPTIONS)

$obj->writeMessages(OPTIONS)

Other methods

$obj->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Mail::Box::Maildir->timespan2seconds(TIME)

Error handling

$obj->AUTOLOAD

$obj->addReport(OBJECT)

$obj->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

Mail::Box::Maildir->defaultTrace([LEVEL]|[LOGLEVEL, TRACELEVEL]|[LEVEL, CALLBACK])

$obj->errors

$obj->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

Mail::Box::Maildir->log([LEVEL [,STRINGS]])

$obj->logPriority(LEVEL)

Mail::Box::Maildir->logPriority(LEVEL)

$obj->logSettings

$obj->notImplemented

$obj->report([LEVEL])

$obj->reportAll([LEVEL])

$obj->trace([LEVEL])

$obj->warnings

Cleanup

$obj->DESTROY

$obj->inGlobalDestruction

DETAILS

The explanation is complicated, but for normal use you should bother yourself with all details.

How MAILDIR folders work

Maildir-type folders use a directory to store the messages of one folder. Each message is stored in a separate file. This seems useful, because changes in a folder change only a few of these small files, in contrast with file-based folders where changes in a folder cause rewrites of huge folder-files.

However, Maildir based folders perform very bad if you need header information of all messages. For instance, if you want to have full knowledge about all message-threads (see Mail::Box::Thread::Manager) in the folder, it requires to read all header lines in all message files. And usually, reading your messages as threads is desired. Maildir maintains a tiny amount of info visible in the filename, which may make it perform just a little bit faster than MH.

DIAGNOSTICS

Error: Cannot append Maildir message in $new to folder $self.

    The message (or messages) could not be stored in the right directories for the Maildir folder.

Error: Cannot create Maildir directory $dir: $!

    A Maildir folder is represented by a directory, with some sub-directories. The top folder directory could not be created for the reason indicated.

Error: Cannot create Maildir folder $name.

    One or more of the directories required to administer a Maildir folder could not be created.

Error: Cannot create Maildir message file $new.

    A message is converted from some other message format into a Maildir format by writing it to a file with a name which contains the status flags of the message. Apparently, creating this file failed.

Error: Cannot create Maildir subdir $dir: $!

    Each Maildir folder has three sub-directories for administration: new, tmp, and cur. The mentioned directory could not be created 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: Folder $name is opened read-only

    You can not write to this folder unless you have opened the folder to write or append with new(access), or the force option is set true.

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: Writing folder $name failed

    For some reason (you probably got more error messages about this problem) it is impossible to write the folder, although you should because there were changes made.

SEE ALSO

This module is part of Mail-Box distribution version 2.087, built on February 03, 2009. Website: http://perl.overmeer.net/mailbox/

LICENSE

Copyrights 2001-2009 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