How open a mime file within an e-mail?

dgermann · 07-12-2006, 11:08 AM

Hi--

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

Code:

--=_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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So how do I open and read this part?

I have found a Windoze program (xferpro) that will open it, but I shouldn't have to resort to that, right?

Thanks!

unSpawn · 07-12-2006, 07:12 PM

So how do I open and read this part?
What application do you use to read email with?
Anyway. If there's no GUI or commandline mailclient that understands the format and you don't have tools like mimencode then you can always use OpenSSL since it's nearly always available.

Let's say you saved what you posted to a file called "text.raw". You'll have to strip the headers and whitelines and only save the actual MIME text to a file:

Code:

egrep -vie "(\-\-=|[A-Z].*:|^[[:blank:]])" text.raw > text.mime

and extract the (in this case) doc and you're done:

Code:

cat text.mime|openssl enc -d -a > text.doc

dgermann · 07-13-2006, 09:18 AM

unSpawn--

Thanks!

I am using a DOS mail reader, Tapcis6. It is plain text only.

Oh. Had not heard of mimencode, but do not find it with a locate on my computer. Did find OpenSSL and will give that a go.

I did try importing the message (which I had saved as a .txt file) into Evolution, but its import wizard just stalled out.

Thanks unSpawn!

dgermann · 07-13-2006, 08:02 PM

unSpawn--

It was a no-go.

When I ran the 1st command, it did not clean the headers and text message out as I thought so I used gedit to take that stuff out.

Then I ran the second command and got 846 pages of this stuff:

Quote:

��#ࡱ#�################>###�� #################^###########`#######��####U###V###W###X###_###�� #!` ###�#�###############$H####bjbj\�\�################## ###�'##>�##>�##�?######|#######################��##########��##########��##################�######## #########################################################,#######�2######�2######�2##8####3##T###\3# #�###,#######�K######$4######$4##"###F4######F4######F4######%6######%6######%6######=E######?E##### #?E######?E##5###tE######�H######�K######�M##h###[P##�###�K##############################�<#

Actually, about 5 pages down I get some readable text which is part of the document.

I also tried cleaning it up first from all the header and message stuff, then running both commands against it. The first command takes a second or two, the second command returns almost instanteously.

OK, I also tried e-mailing this file to another address where I am set up to use Evolution to download the mail. No go either--it is exactly the same message I quote above, probably because the DOS e-mail client has stripped out all but the ascii text, I'm guessing.

Any idea what else to try?

Thanks for your help.

unSpawn · 07-14-2006, 06:01 AM

It was a no-go.
Tapcis was built in the early eighties for Compuserve, so this wasn't totally unexpected, right?

You may need to convert or export Tapcis files to another generally readable format. I don't like to promote commercial software or shareware but unfortunately I haven't found any FOSS alternatives and I don't want to read 200 pages of http://www.dubner.com/tapubb/tapcis6.pdf. Looking around shows at least one other app to read stuff: search for the "TapCIS Message Reader for Windows.": "cisrd2.zip", and one to convert: "ForMorph Message Converter": http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/cou...0685&fileidx=1 . If you export try the "generic mail and news (RFC-822)" format first.

dgermann · 07-14-2006, 03:10 PM

unSpawn--

Thanks for all the digging you have done in my behalf! What a
helpful person you are.

Yes, Tapcis was used for CompuServe mail for about 30 years I would guess.

It is pure ascii text files, so no translation is necessary. The file is
fully readable in gedit or vi.

So I am missing why it is necessary to translate the file from text
to say a Windows format before opening it. There is a dos program called
xferpro which will open the mime part of the file, so it seemed reasonable
to suspect there is a linux equivalent.

But an interesting sidelight is if I e-mail it to Evolution,
why Evolution cannot decode it....

Thanks unSpawn!