Subject: What is the number on the message-id line?

From: [email-masked] (Chris Hale)
Date: 12 Aug 1994 01:53:22 -0700

You can only see this line if you look at the full header.

	Message-ID: <[email-masked]>

I can guess at the first part (pine ver 3.89) and the last part (I'm 
mailing from kelly.teleport.com)  But what is the big long number in between?

It changes each time I mail something.  But there doesn't seem to be a 
rhyme or reason to what influences the number.

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From: "Robert A. Hayden" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 12:43:56 +0100

> 	Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
                               ^^^^^^^^^^
				   |
				Date and time?
				(August 12, 1994 at 1:55am)

As for A11281, I assume that is the sendmail ID# that was assigned, but I 
am not sure what the algorithm is for producing that.

____        Robert A. Hayden       <=> [email-masked]
\  /__          -=-=-=-=-          <=>          -=-=-=-=-
 \/  /  Finger for Geek Code Info  <=> I do not necessarily speak for the
   \/   Finger for PGP Public Key  <=> City of Mankato or anyone else, dammit
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
(GEEK CODE 2.1) GJ/CM d- H-- s-:++>s-:+ g+ p? au+ a- w++ v* C++(++++) UL++++$ 
		P+>++ L++$ 3- E---- N+++ K+++ W M+ V-- -po+(---)>$ Y++ t+ 5+++
		j R+++$ G- tv+ b+ D+ B--- e+>++(*) u** h* f r-->+++ !n y++**

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From: Mike Stok <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 13:43:00 -0400 (EDT)

> 	Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
                               ^ ^ ^ ^    ^  
             1994--------------+ | | |    |
             August--------------+ | |    |
             12th------------------+ |    |
             01:55 (UTC time?)-------+    |
             Unique number (process ID?)--+
> rhyme or reason to what influences the number.

I would guess...

Mike

-- 
The "usual disclaimers" apply.    | Meiko
Mike Stok                         | 130C Baker Ave. Ext
[email-masked]     | Concord, MA 01742
Meiko tel: (508) 371 0088 x124    |

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From: "Brian P. Hampson" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 10:35:02 -0700 (PDT)

> rhyme or reason to what influences the number.

It looks like you wrote that letter at 1:55 on the 12th of the 08 month 
in 1994...i.e. the number is a serial number that uniquely identifies 
every message that travels in the NET

B.

   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   |Brian P. Hampson                  Internet: [email-masked]     |
   |System Administration,                      [email-masked]        |
   |Analytical Service Labs           Fidonet : Brian Hampson 1:153/733   |
   |Vancouver, BC                                                         |
   |                                                                      |
   |               Specialists in Environmental Chemistry                 | 
   |                                                                      |
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------

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From: David L Miller <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 11:13:27 -0700 (PDT)

The primary purpose of the Message-ID is to be unique.  Pine does supply a
bit of information there, but opther mailers don't.  Basically, the first
number is the date and time, but I don't recall where the second one comes
from offhand... 

|\ |  |\/|  David L. Miller    [email-masked]  (206) 685-6240
|/ |_ |  |  Software Engineer, Pine Development Team   (206) 685-4045 (FAX)
University of Washington, Networks & Distributed Computing, JE-20
4545 15th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98105, USA

---

From: Mike Brudenell <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 1994 18:37:15 +0000

> 	Message-ID: <[email-masked]>
                                ^^^^^^^^^
This looks like the date and time: 12-Aug-94 01:55
Don't know about the "A11281" -- Have you rummaged in the source code?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mike Brudenell				E-mail: [email-masked]
The Computing Service			Phone:  (+44) 904 433811
University of York			FAX:    (+44) 904 432767
Heslington
York  YO1 5DD  U.K.

---

From: Barry Cornelius <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 12:23:05 +0100 (BST)

> > 	Message-ID: <[email-masked]>

One of our more observant users noticed that the time (0155 in the above
example) was not in fact the hours and minutes value from the time as he
expected.  It turns out that it is the hours and seconds of the time.  We
reported this "bug" as a very low priority curiosity to the Pine team, and
I understand that it will be "fixed" in 3.90. 

--
Barry Cornelius                      Telephone: (0191 or +44 191) 374 4717
IT Service, Science Site,    IT Service Office: (0191 or +44 191) 374 2892   
University of Durham,                      Fax: (0191 or +44 191) 374 3741
Durham, DH1 3LE, UK                   E-mail: [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Neil Hoggarth)
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 1994 09:06:52 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>,
> rhyme or reason to what influences the number.

The Message-ID header is required by the Internet mail standards to
provide a unique identifier for each mail message. This ID can then be
quoted as a reference when generating replies etc. The Netnews system
uses something similar to allow threaded readers to associate follow-ups
with the articles which prompted them.

The number in the middle of the string seems to be made up from the
current date and time and, I would guess, the process ID of the Pine
which generated the message.

94 - year
08 - month
12 - day
0155 - perhaps it was mailed at 01:55 GMT?
11281 - I would think this is a process ID.

However the contents arn't really important.

Regards,

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neil Hoggarth                    Computer Officer, Laboratory of Physiology
<[email-masked]>                                Oxford University, UK
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

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From: Bruce Lilly <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 1994 12:04:32 UT

In article <[email-masked]>,
 posted to newsgroup comp.mail.pine,
 [email-masked] (Neil Hoggarth) wrote:
[ others have made similar comments ]

>0155 - perhaps it was mailed at 01:55 GMT?

That's one possibility. Unless the relevant part of the pine
code has been changed since 3.07, it could have been generated
at 01:xx:55, that is, the hours and seconds, but not minutes,
are used to generate this part of the message id.  It is possible,
therefore, to have two messages with the same message id, posted
on the same day within a one hour window, if the process ids wrap
around within that time; unlikely but possible.

-- 
    Bruce Lilly, Product Manager,      | 
    Routers, Peripherals & Still Store,| uupsi!monymsys!sonyd1!bruce
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