From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>
Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help
Subject: Re: rmail invalid mbox file
Date: Wed, 05 May 2021 15:23:05 +0300
Message-ID: <83pmy52wuu.fsf@gnu.org>
References: <87r1il76no.fsf@openbsd1.jimerickson.info>
Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214";
	logging-data="29992"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io"
To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Wed May 05 14:23:56 2021
Return-path: <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org>
Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org
Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17])
	by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256)
	(Exim 4.92)
	(envelope-from <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org>)
	id 1leGZH-0007eR-Ri
	for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 05 May 2021 14:23:55 +0200
Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:47692 helo=lists1p.gnu.org)
	by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1)
	(envelope-from <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org>)
	id 1leGZG-0001sI-3H
	for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 05 May 2021 08:23:54 -0400
Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:38382)
 by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256)
 (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from <eliz@gnu.org>) id 1leGYh-0001sC-N5
 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 05 May 2021 08:23:19 -0400
Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]:43167)
 by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1)
 (envelope-from <eliz@gnu.org>) id 1leGYh-0001Bg-Fg
 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 05 May 2021 08:23:19 -0400
Original-Received: from 84.94.185.95.cable.012.net.il ([84.94.185.95]:3651
 helo=home-c4e4a596f7)
 by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtpsa (TLS1.2:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256)
 (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from <eliz@gnu.org>) id 1leGYg-0006Zg-OK
 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Wed, 05 May 2021 08:23:19 -0400
In-Reply-To: <87r1il76no.fsf@openbsd1.jimerickson.info> (message from Jim
 Erickson on Wed, 05 May 2021 06:37:47 -0500)
X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23
Precedence: list
List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs.gnu.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/options/help-gnu-emacs>,
 <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-gnu-emacs>
List-Post: <mailto:help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
List-Help: <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs>,
 <mailto:help-gnu-emacs-request@gnu.org?subject=subscribe>
Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org
Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs"
 <help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org>
Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.help:129479
Archived-At: <http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help/129479>

> From: Jim Erickson <jimerickso@gmail.com>
> Date: Wed, 05 May 2021 06:37:47 -0500
> 
> yes the first line of the mbox file reads as follows:
> 
> Return-Path: <jim@openbsd1.jimerickson.info>

That's the problem: the first line of each email message in an mbox
file should look something like this:

  From help-gnu-emacs-bounces+eliz=gnu.org@gnu.org Wed May 05 07:46:37 2021

That is, it must start with "From ", then a valid email address, then
date and time.  Return-Path: should be on the next line.

Do you have the "From " lines there, perhaps on lines after
Return-Path?  If so, maybe you could reorder the lines with Sed or
with Emacs, to get a usable mbox file.