Mangled MIME Headers in plain text mail

[Julian Field]

On 21/4/09 21:02, Mark Sapiro wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 05:44:56PM +0100, Julian Field wrote:
>    
>> I've just tested your message against my copy of MailScanner, the latest
>> released version.
>> It puts the plain-text signature at the end of the first plain-text bit
>> of text, and it puts the HTML signature at the end of the HTML bit of
>> text, just as I intended.
>>
>> It doesn't create any new MIME parts for the signature at all, as I
>> didn't think it would.
>>
>> So I don't know where those signatures are coming from, but I sure
>> cannot reproduce this. MailScanner doesn't create new message MIME parts
>> when it adds signatures, feel free to read the code.
>>      
>
> Perhaps the defect with the "extra" text/plain alternative was in the
> original message.
>
> Jules,
>
> If the original message were
>
> multipart/related
>      Multipart/alternative
>          text/plain (empty)
>          text/plain (plain alternative)
>          text/html (html alternative)
>      image/jpeg
>
> would Mailscanner add the plain signature to both text/plain parts?
>    
No, only the first one. But a message with an empty text/plain 
alternative part could well display as a totally blank message.
>
>    
>> Jules.
>>
>> On 21/4/09 17:05, Mark Sapiro wrote:
>>      
>>> On Tue, Apr 21, 2009 at 09:39:26AM +0100, Drew Marshall wrote:
>>>
>>>        
>>>> Sorry Kai took a while to get another one in. It's fairly
>>>> intermittent. So here it is
>>>>
>>>> http://pastebin.com/m28c03d06
>>>>
>>>> I am sure I could find more examples.
>>>>
>>>>          
>>> The message at the above link is defective. It appears that MailScanner
>>> is in fact doing the wrong thing. Jules will have to look at it and
>>> confirm, but here's what I see.
>>>
>>> It appears that the original message had MIME structure
>>>
>>> multipart/related
>>>      multipart/alternative
>>>          text/plain (the plain text alternative)
>>>          text/html  (the rich text alternative)
>>>      image/jpeg (an image referenced by the HTML part)
>>>
>>> Then the MailScanner signature is added as follows:
>>>
>>> multipart/related
>>>      multipart/alternative
>>>          text/plain (the MailScanner signature)
>>>          text/plain (the plain text alternative)
>>>          text/html  (the rich text alternative)
>>>      image/jpeg (an image referenced by the HTML part)
>>>
>>> This is clearly wrong. There are a couple of ways the signature could be
>>> added. One would be to insert it in the already multipart message.
>>>
>>> multipart/related
>>>      text/plain  ((the MailScanner signature)
>>>      multipart/alternative
>>>          text/plain (the plain text alternative)
>>>          text/html  (the rich text alternative)
>>>      image/jpeg (an image referenced by the HTML part)
>>>
>>> Another would be to recast the message as multipart mixed with the first
>>> part being the signature and the second part being the original message.
>>>
>>> multipart/mixed
>>>      text/plain   (the MailScanner signature)
>>>      multipart/related
>>>          multipart/alternative
>>>              text/plain (the plain text alternative)
>>>              text/html  (the rich text alternative)
>>>          image/jpeg (an image referenced by the HTML part)
>>>
>>> In any case, inserting the signature as another alternative within the
>>> multipart/alternative part is clearly wrong.
>>>
>>>
>>>        
>> Jules
>>
>> -- 
>> Julian Field MEng CITP CEng
>> www.MailScanner.info
>> Buy the MailScanner book at www.MailScanner.info/store
>>
>> MailScanner customisation, or any advanced system administration help?
>> Contact me at Jules at Jules.FM
>>
>> PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654
>> PGP public key: http://www.jules.fm/julesfm.asc
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> This message has been scanned for viruses and
>> dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
>> believed to be clean.
>>
>>
>>      
>    

Jules

-- 
Julian Field MEng CITP CEng
www.MailScanner.info
Buy the MailScanner book at www.MailScanner.info/store

MailScanner customisation, or any advanced system administration help?
Contact me at Jules at Jules.FM

PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654
PGP public key: http://www.jules.fm/julesfm.asc


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.