Convert text file to mbox file?

Convert text file to mbox file?

[Dr. C. Baxter]

Hello,

In my rmail configuration, I have sent the variable
'mail-archive-file-name' to a local file 'sent'. All appeared to go well
for several months, but when I now try to read 'sent' via "M-x rmail-input"
I'm told that 'sent' is an Invalid mbox file. I think the problem may
have arisen when I edited and saved 'sent' as if it were an ordinary
text file. Is there anyway in which I can covert 'sent' back to an mbox
file?

Thanks.

Best wishes,

Colin Baxter.

Re: Convert text file to mbox file?

[Emanuel Berg via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

Dr. C. Baxter wrote:

> In my rmail configuration, I have sent the variable
> 'mail-archive-file-name' to a local file 'sent'.
> All appeared to go well for several months, but when I now
> try to read 'sent' via "M-x rmail-input" I'm told that
> 'sent' is an Invalid mbox file. I think the problem may have
> arisen when I edited and saved 'sent' as if it were an
> ordinary text file. Is there anyway in which I can covert
> 'sent' back to an mbox file?

If it makes you feel better, several people have, uhm, tried:

  https://www.google.com/search?q=unix+mbox+file+repair&hl=en&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gbv=1&ucbcb=1

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: Convert text file to mbox file?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Dr. C. Baxter" <m43cap@yandex.com>
> Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2022 17:53:28 +0000
> 
> In my rmail configuration, I have sent the variable
> 'mail-archive-file-name' to a local file 'sent'. All appeared to go well
> for several months, but when I now try to read 'sent' via "M-x rmail-input"
> I'm told that 'sent' is an Invalid mbox file. I think the problem may
> have arisen when I edited and saved 'sent' as if it were an ordinary
> text file. Is there anyway in which I can covert 'sent' back to an mbox
> file?

My suggestion is to establish what exactly causes Rmail to signal this
error.  Set debug-on-error non-nil, and examine the backtrace; then
step with Edebug if needed.

Once you understand what exactly causes the error, I'm quite sure
repairing your archive will be easy.

Re: Convert text file to mbox file?

[Colin Baxter]

>>>>> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

    >> From: "Dr. C. Baxter" <m43cap@yandex.com> Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2022
    >> 17:53:28 +0000
    >> 
    >> In my rmail configuration, I have sent the variable
    >> 'mail-archive-file-name' to a local file 'sent'. All appeared to
    >> go well for several months, but when I now try to read 'sent' via
    >> "M-x rmail-input" I'm told that 'sent' is an Invalid mbox file. I
    >> think the problem may have arisen when I edited and saved 'sent'
    >> as if it were an ordinary text file. Is there anyway in which I
    >> can covert 'sent' back to an mbox file?

    > My suggestion is to establish what exactly causes Rmail to signal
    > this error.  Set debug-on-error non-nil, and examine the
    > backtrace; then step with Edebug if needed.

    > Once you understand what exactly causes the error, I'm quite sure
    > repairing your archive will be easy.

You're right, the repair was easy. During a previous edit, I had inadvertently
written several blank lines to the top of the archive file. I removed
these to obtain once again an mbox file.

Thanks.

Best wishes,

Colin Baxter.

Re: Convert text file to mbox file?

[Jean Louis]

* Dr. C. Baxter <m43cap@yandex.com> [2022-03-03 20:59]:
> In my rmail configuration, I have sent the variable
> 'mail-archive-file-name' to a local file 'sent'. All appeared to go well
> for several months, but when I now try to read 'sent' via "M-x rmail-input"
> I'm told that 'sent' is an Invalid mbox file. I think the problem may
> have arisen when I edited and saved 'sent' as if it were an ordinary
> text file. Is there anyway in which I can covert 'sent' back to an mbox
> file?

I am not helpful in this comment here. It is of course a problem in
software. It may not be related to un-reliability of Mbox, though
maybe it is.

That is why I use Maildir format, and nothing else.

cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html
http://cr.yp.to/proto/maildir.html

And yes, I have tried (last year last ltime) to be fast and efficient
with Emacs and e-mail. Compared to Mutt software, it was never
reliable, consistent, efficient and enough fast. And yes, I have tried
all of the packages like Rmail, MH for Emacs, Gnus (terrible),
Wonderwhat else...

And the Emacs handling of email never worked faster and more efficient
than Mutt, so I stick to Mutt and Maildir. The best setup for last 20
years.

The Mutt E-Mail Client
http://mutt.org/

-- 
Jean

Take action in Free Software Foundation campaigns:
https://www.fsf.org/campaigns

In support of Richard M. Stallman
https://stallmansupport.org/

Re: Convert text file to mbox file?

[TRS-80]

On 2022-03-04 02:27, Colin Baxter wrote:
> 
> You're right, the repair was easy. During a previous edit, I had 
> inadvertently
> written several blank lines to the top of the archive file. I removed
> these to obtain once again an mbox file.
> 

You already arrived at the solution.  However I just wanted to point out 
that both mbox and Maildir are quite simple file formats.  Mbox is 
essentially 'just a text file', albeit with some particular formatting.

Cheers,
TRS-80