Subject: pico creates large file?

From: Tom Hennessy <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 15:18:11 -0700 (MST)

I had asked a question earlier as to how I could access a folder which had
locked itself due to the fact that I had placed too many articles in it?
I opened the folder into my pico editor and was deleting articles which
were not all that important in order to attempt to decrease the size of
the folder so that it would open in my email.
When I originally began this my editor did not seem to corrupt the folder
at all. It would simply delete the articles leaving the folder/articles
intact such that I could access each article individually. Now when I open
a folder into my pico and then access this same folder through my email I
find that the folder now has become one huge file .. therefore no longer
allowing me to access each article individually. This is not acceptable
due to the fact that I need to forward only certain files. 
Can this be rectified?

Tom [email-masked]

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From: Edward M Greshko <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 07:45:38 +0800 (GMT)

> due to the fact that I need to forward only certain files. 

Yes, it *may* be possible to rectify the situation.  However, it may be
difficult for you to do it.  

The folders used by a mail program are in a specific format such that the
program can properly display the contents.  Prior to the MIME standards
the format was a bit easier to understand than it is now.  So, without
specific knowledge of the format you can end up in the situation you now
find yourself.

Since you didn't know better, you messed things up.  Un-messing things
will require you gain that knowledge.

Regards,
Ed

-- 
Edward M. Greshko                  Technical Manager, Electronic Commerce
                                   Control Data Asia/Pacific Region
PGPKey-ID:CA3AFA5D  Fingerprint: 2DE6 5527 144E D1BC  3C55 9FA5 518E 52EE

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From: Tom Hennessy <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 23:41:18 -0700 (MST)

> specific knowledge of the format you can end up in the situation you now
The part that I cannot understand is how three days ago the pico editor
did not compromise/change the format of the folder.. IE did not change the
folder in the least. It left the folder as is.. the articles could still
be accessed as single files/articles. Today the pico editor changes the
folder to one huge file..???
Would something have been changed at my server??

Tom [email-masked]

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From: "Adam H. Kerman" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 1997 15:19:11 -0600 (CST)

>From: Tom Hennessy <[email-masked]>
>Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 23:41:18 -0700 (MST)

>Would something have been changed at my server??

Yes; you corrupted a message boundary line. Your folders are kept in mailbox
format as one large file each. When a message is added, a line in the following
format is prepended to the message headers:

>From [email-masked] Mon Nov  3 12:33:56 1997

except for the ">" character. When pine sees a blank line followed by the
string "From " (the space character is significant), it checks to see if a new
message follows by looking for the boundary line. So, find the line you
corrupted, and fix the message boundary, and you will once again see individual
messages in the reader.

A mailbox of this type is often called "Berkeley-format" or just "unix-style".
It seems not to have an official name. There are other mailbox styles, however.