How to open a mime in-line message

[dgermann]

Hi--

I am getting e-mails from a correspondent with part of them in mime format. For instance, this part starts like this:


--=_alternative 004FF9948525719D_=--

--=_mixed 004FF9928525719D_=
Content-Type: application/octet-stream; name="B&I Processing
Guide&ApplicationChecklists MAY 06.doc"
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="B&I Processing
Guide&ApplicationChecklists MAY 06.doc"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
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 cEAD7HAAA+xwAApz8AAAAA
AAB8AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD//w8AAAAAAAAAAAD//w8AAAAAAAAAAAD//w8A
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKQAAAAAABgFAAAAAAAAGAUAABgFAA AAAAAAGAUAAAAAAAAYBQAA


So how do I open and read this part?

I have found a Windoze program (xferpro) that will open it, but isn't there a linux alternative, so I don't have to keep firing up those old apps? ;)

I have tried e-mailing that message to me where I can pick up the e-mail via Evolution, but Evolution shows exactly the same as above.

Thanks!

[davidh]

I am getting e-mails from a correspondent with part of them in mime format.
So how do I open and read this part?

I have found a Windoze program (xferpro) that will open it, but isn't there a linux alternative, so I don't have to keep firing up those old apps? ;)


I used to use UUDEVIEW program to decode and encode the binary parts out of or into such text files a lot in the past. ( [on Windows 9x] It was convenient to make up BATCH files to automatically store and retrieve Binary files into the CVS version control system since CVS sometimes had problems with raw binary.)

"UUDeview 0.5pl20 for Unix
The Unix version is the most powerful of all. By downloading and installing the distribution package, you get the two command-line tools, uudeview and uuenview. If you have Tcl/Tk installed, the graphical frontend xdeview is also installed."

http://fpx.de/fp/Software/UUDeview/

So the XDEVIEW sounds like a good bet, if you can get this package(s) installed on your system easily.

But maybe you already have something installed on your LINUX system to do the job. Maybe try to do a search in your MAN pages or HOWTO stuff for the words "mime" and "encode" / "decode" to see what's on your system. Or maybe you already have a good mime decoder somewhere on your LINUX distro disk ?

LINUX forum may still be open too on CS/NS if you want to give that a try http://community.compuserve.com

DH

PS

Watch out. When I searched for "uudeview" in google, my McAfee siteadvisor extension for Firefox came up with a couple of sites with "red X's" indicating danger.

The internet storm center also recently posted a notice about a open source development site having been hacked. So if by chance any part of your distro came from compile and build of computer program source code from a hacked development site, then one could be at some risk. However at this point in time this is not a real known risk in the wild yet.

[Gary Maltzen]

Evolution should have given you the opportunity to save the attachment as a *.doc file; it sounds like something is amiss in the early headers. Did you receive this through Compuserve Classic mail service or through some other ISP?

(davidh: LinuxForum is most certainly still open on "community" - I am on the staff)

[Mike]

If you have WinZip, then you can save the email as a text file and then open it in WinZip to extract all the components.

[davidh]

Hi--

I am getting e-mails from a correspondent with part of them in mime format. For instance, this part starts like this:

So how do I open and read this part?

Thanks!

Maybe this program is something that came with your LINUX and could do the job. But you'd have to edit out all the headers and just leave the meat of the file only, so it's probably not the most reliable or convenient solution

Never tried it myself. It just came up near the top of the list when I searched for LINUX BASE64 DECODER on Google.

DH


http://www.penguin-soft.com/penguin/man/1/base64-decode.html

[dgermann]

David--

Many thanks for your computer know-how that you so willingly share!

The UUDeview thing looks promising. I will check it out soon. (My server bit the dust this weekend, so I have been scrambling to get a replacement up and running.) So too the base64-decode.

Ahh! I do have Tcl installed! However, xdeview and uudeview do not come up when I run them on the command line. Will have to do some checking this out....

Mike--

Not sure if I have WinZip, unless it is on the WinXP box I have, standard. Thanks for thinking of this. I do not normally look at Windows things, and have never run WinZip, so this is helpful as a possibly easy alternative.

Gary--

This e-mail came through CIS as my isp. I opened it in Tap. Then I forwarded it from Tap to my ComCast account and retrieved it via Evo. My thought is that there might have been an accompanying binary file which I did not download from CI$, and it was this that Evo would have needed to translate the mime part.

So I am wondering if the next one I just retrieve via POP3 and Evo, that would do the trick and I would not need a decoder?

Thanks, Gary.

Thanks guys! You are an immense help!

[davidh]

This e-mail came through CIS as my isp. I opened it in Tap. Then I forwarded it from Tap to my ComCast account and retrieved it via Evo. My thought is that there might have been an accompanying binary file which I did not download from CI$, and it was this that Evo would have needed to translate the mime part.

So I am wondering if the next one I just retrieve via POP3 and Evo, that would do the trick and I would not need a decoder?


Doug,

TAPCIS (and any other Classic Compuserve compatible email program such as WINCIM, etc.) rely on the ability of the Classic mail servers (not your PC) to separate an INTERNET (i.e. not Classic CIS) email message into it's component parts. Such as plain text, HTML text, binary DOC, etc. That is the CIS server does the job of translating email from POP3 to CIS and vice versa.

Sometimes, the CIS servers fail to handle the parts of a message correctly. This could have happened in your case. Possibly in addition to the fact that you might not have downloaded the binary part with tapcis into your tapcis download folder.

Since both TAPCIS (I think) and Internet (POP3) email programs can be configured to leave messages on the server (CIS) for additional subsequent download later, you might want to try doing so. And then compare the results to see which gives you the uncorrupted binary file(s) more reliably.

Chances are good that Evo itself alone could have done the job correctly.

Since not many messages are sent from one Compuserve member to another at all anymore using the CIS mail protocols, most everything you get should be INTERNET/POP3 compatible and most INTERNET/POP3 email programs should handle such "modern" messages just fine. To put it another way, avoiding use of TAPCIS or other Classic email program should avoid any possible problems that the CIS server programs would have translating between formats (since no such translation is then needed).

DH

[davidh]

Doug, the gaps in the last couple lines in the example you posted should not be there. So it's possible that the file is already corrupted. If so, whether you will be able to fix it by editing it manually with a text editor is a question I can't answer. You might have to ask the person to send the file again.

DH

[dgermann]

David--

Your advice has made me move up to this weekend the attempted switch over from Tap as my mail program, to Evo. Cross your fingers for me, please! ;)


I had not noticed the gaps in those lines before you mentioned them. It looks lik the copy and paste did not work well--those are not in the original mail I got.

Will let you know how it goes. I will switch this over, then worry about mailing lists later, perhaps another day.