Travis Crump wrote: > jesus X wrote: >> Attachments being stored in a separate file is a good idea. But we must >> maintain the message portion in a standard mbox for maximum >> compatibility. I would be more than happy to give up importing >> attachments for this extra layer of security, so long as I can still >> import mail to other apps. Plus, sometimes you just need to open the mail >> file and edit it manually, for various reasons... >> > > And how pray tell does storing attachments in the mbox file prevent you > from opening it and editing it manually.
I think you misunderstood what he's saying. It's not that removing attachments makes it easier to edit an mbox file. His concern is that the mail messages continue to be saved in a plain text format. I believe you are both in agreement here. > I would not be more than > happy to give up importing attachments. The vast majority of > attachments I never save off to another location, because quite frankly > they are worthless to me out of the context of the e-mail. Even with Eudora the message retains what file was attached, even if that file is moved from the default attachment folder. When moved, the link just doesn't work. If the context of the mail is critical to the attachment, you simply leave the attachment in the default location. > It is very > nice to be able to both backup your mail and move it to other > computers/partitions by only copying one file. Exactly which E-Mail application out there can you backup just one single file and have everything you need for a restore, or even move. Okay, other than Pine or Mutt *if* you don't create any new folders in them. In Mozilla for every single folder of mail there are two files. The mbox file, and the index. This seems to be a very common setup for most mail clients. At least it's true for Moz, NS 4.7x, KMail, and even Eudora. As mail folders go deeper, so do the directories on the file system. Add in config files and address book information and we're talking about a stack of files to backup even in the simplest of possibilities. Only a complete backup of an entire /mail directory would be sufficient for restoration of lost data. > It is very hard to do > this with Eudora without losing attachments since Eudora just throws all > your attachments into the same folder as its program files so you can > never tell what's what(note: I have never used Eudora since I moved off > Win95 so if this has changed, excuse me). Eudora throws all of the attachments in a subdirectory of where your mail is stored by default. If you backup your entire mail folder, all the attachments go with. By default Eudora stores mail underneath it's "Program Files" directory. There isn't a GUI config for it, but a quick change to an INI file changes where the /Mail directory is located. Not horribly different than Mozilla, except that Moz's default settings are a bit more OS friendly. In all my talking about Eudora I want to make clear that I'm not wishing to see Mozilla become a clone of it. There are some specific aspects of how Eudora handles attachments that I believe would alleviate conflicts with AV applications with Mozilla. Later on, -- "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx
