Subject: Particular message messes things up..

From: Matt Ackeret <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 18:15:06 -0700 (PDT)

I'm using pine 4.55, on Mac OS X.  (10.3)

I have a particular message that seems to be 'confusing' pine.  After I view
that message (it views fine the first time, as far as I can tell), my
control chars are no longer going to pine.

If I try to look at it (i.e. go back to index, hit return) again, I see:

   [Error: Formatting error: Transfer interrupted!]

If I try to look at it yet again (i.e. go back to index, hit return), I see:

    [ The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set. ]
    [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set.  ]
    [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]

^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@

and so on..

I just realized that I seem to have my control chars back by going back to
the index (maybe a few times?).  Previously I was quitting and relaunching
pine since it seemed like it was stuck.

Basically -- does this sound at all familiar?  Is there something I could
look for in the message/raw text that might be causing this? It's not
a foreign-language message, btw.

-- 
top-posting: It's just a bad idea.
-- 
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From: Birl <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:20:36 -0400 (EDT)

As it was written on Oct 15, thus Matt Ackeret typed:

<snip>

matt:  If I try to look at it (i.e. go back to index, hit return) again, I see:
matt:
matt:     [Error: Formatting error: Transfer interrupted!]
matt:
matt:
matt:  If I try to look at it yet again (i.e. go back to index, hit return), I see:
matt:
matt:
matt:      [ The following text is in the "ISO-8859-1" character set. ]
matt:      [ Your display is set for the "US-ASCII" character set.  ]
matt:      [ Some characters may be displayed incorrectly. ]
matt:
matt:  ^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
matt:  ^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
matt:  ^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@^@
matt:
matt:  and so on..
matt:
matt:  I just realized that I seem to have my control chars back by going back to
matt:  the index (maybe a few times?).  Previously I was quitting and relaunching
matt:  pine since it seemed like it was stuck.
matt:
matt:
matt:  Basically -- does this sound at all familiar?  Is there something I could
matt:  look for in the message/raw text that might be causing this? It's not
matt:  a foreign-language message, btw.

Ive seen Windows use ^@ in some of their files.

Have you tried 'cat -ev' to locate the control character(s)?

Maybe if you locate it and use vi (or sed) to remove it, the rest of
message maybe intact ... ?

 Thanks

 Scott Birl
 Senior Systems Administrator            Computer Services   Temple University
 1805 North Broad Street  Philadelphia   Pennsylvania 19122  United States
====*====*====*====*====*====*====*====+====*====*====*====*====*====*====*====*

---

From: Matt Ackeret <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:13:46 -0700 (PDT)

>matt:     [Error: Formatting error: Transfer interrupted!]
...
>Ive seen Windows use ^@ in some of their files.

I'm on Mac OS X, as I said.. and I think it's *pine* that's showing the ^@
(Which are used for nulls, I think..), because as I said, it's only when I
try to view it *again* that that happens.

>Have you tried 'cat -ev' to locate the control character(s)?

Interesting, I can't even export the file, because I get this warning:
         [>Formatting error: Non-hexadecimal character in QP encoding<]

Is there any way I can figure out *what* is wrong with the message?

The email in question was actually a machine-generated email (it's a list of
bugs in our bug system that I have asked to be updated once a day on when
they're updated)..  So maybe either (1) I have something set up wrong
in pine, or (2) they should be doing something to the email to make sure
this kind of thing doesn't happen.

Now I'm guessing, but maybe there's some 'funky characters' in the quoted
parts of the *bugs* that they should be modifying.

---

From: Birl <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:02:02 -0400 (EDT)

As it was written on Oct 17, thus Matt Ackeret typed:

matt:  Return-Path: <[email-masked]>
matt:  Sender: [email-masked]
matt:  Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2003 12:13:46 -0700 (PDT)
matt:  From: Matt Ackeret <[email-masked]>
matt:  To: Pine Discussion Forum <[email-masked]>
matt:  Subject: Re: Particular message messes things up..
matt:
matt:  On Fri, 17 Oct 2003, Birl wrote:
matt:  >As it was written on Oct 15, thus Matt Ackeret typed:
matt:  >
matt:  ><snip>
matt:  >
matt:  >matt:  If I try to look at it (i.e. go back to index, hit return) again, I see:
matt:  >matt:
matt:  >matt:     [Error: Formatting error: Transfer interrupted!]
matt:  >matt:
matt:  ...
matt:  >
matt:  >Ive seen Windows use ^@ in some of their files.
matt:
matt:  I'm on Mac OS X, as I said.. and I think it's *pine* that's showing the ^@
matt:  (Which are used for nulls, I think..), because as I said, it's only when I
matt:  try to view it *again* that that happens.

Aye, I read that part about the OS.  I was wondering if someone sent you
the email from a Windoze machine.

matt:  >Have you tried 'cat -ev' to locate the control character(s)?
matt:
matt:  Interesting, I can't even export the file, because I get this warning:
matt:           [>Formatting error: Non-hexadecimal character in QP encoding<]
matt:
matt:  Is there any way I can figure out *what* is wrong with the message?
matt:
matt:  The email in question was actually a machine-generated email (it's a list of
matt:  bugs in our bug system that I have asked to be updated once a day on when
matt:  they're updated)..  So maybe either (1) I have something set up wrong
matt:  in pine, or (2) they should be doing something to the email to make sure
matt:  this kind of thing doesn't happen.
matt:
matt:  Now I'm guessing, but maybe there's some 'funky characters' in the quoted
matt:  parts of the *bugs* that they should be modifying.

Well since you cant export it  (I assume you tried both export and save),
I would try the longer route of cat/vi/sed the Inbox.

I personally do not think it's a Pine issue per se.  There could be
something different in the Mac OS when Pine is compiled though ....

Im thinking that it's more the user who sent the email.

I would take a hard look at the message through cat or vi.
If the message looks OK then I would assume it's an issue with Pine.
If the message contains the ^@ characters, I would assume it was the
sender (esp. if it's spam).