reformime -x option behavior change in v3.2.0 - path handling issue

Jan Smutný via Courier-maildrop <[email protected]> Tue, 25 Nov 2025 22:11:36 +0100
Newsgroups gmane.mail.maildrop
Message-ID <[email protected]>
This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--===============5663515273411080113==
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary="------------Gl5JQlIODQpU20dyDqzQfSdS"
Content-Language: en-US

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
--------------Gl5JQlIODQpU20dyDqzQfSdS
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Hello,

We have been using reformime as part of the mail-filter/maildrop Gentoo 
package for several years. Prior to version 3.2.0, the -x option 
accepted full paths in its argument (e.g., "-x 
/home/user/mail/myprefix"), extracting MIME message parts to the 
directory "/home/user/mail/" with filenames beginning with "myprefix".

Since version 3.2.0, forward slash characters ("/") in the argument are 
replaced with underscores ("_"), causing all parts to be extracted to 
the current directory with the original path becoming part of the 
filename prefix. For example, what previously extracted to 
"/home/user/mail/myprefix001" now extracts to 
"./home_user_mail_myprefix001" in the current directory.

While I cannot definitively say whether either behavior should be 
considered a bug or feature, this change has caused issues for our 
existing workflows and scripts that relied on the previous path-handling 
behavior. The change was undocumented and unexpected from our perspective.

I have identified the specific code responsible for this behavior change 
and have prepared a patch that would restore the ability to use paths in 
the -x option while maintaining backward compatibility.

Could you please clarify the intended behavior for the -x option? If you 
would consider accepting a patch to restore the previous functionality 
(perhaps as an additional option to maintain compatibility), please let 
me know the preferred method for submitting contributions.

Thank you for your time and for maintaining this useful tool.

Best regards,
Jan Smutný

-- 

S pozdravem / Best regards

Ing. Jan Smutny

EXCELLO | Virusfree


E: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>

W: http://www.excello.cz <http://www.excello.cz/>

W: http://www.virusfree.cz <http://www.virusfree.cz/>


Twitter <https://twitter.com/excello_cz>

Linkedin <http://www.linkedin.com/company/511927>

--------------Gl5JQlIODQpU20dyDqzQfSdS
Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>

    <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  </head>
  <body>
    <p><span><span>Hello, <br>
        </span></span></p>
    <p><span>
      </span><span>We have been using reformime as part of the
        mail-filter/maildrop Gentoo package for several years. Prior to
        version 3.2.0, the -x option accepted full paths in its argument
        (e.g., "-x /home/user/mail/myprefix"), extracting MIME message
        parts to the directory "/home/user/mail/" with filenames
        beginning with "myprefix".</span></p>
    <p><span></span><span>Since version 3.2.0, forward slash characters
        ("/") in the argument are replaced with underscores ("_"),
        causing all parts to be extracted to the current directory with
        the original path becoming part of the filename prefix. For
        example, what previously extracted to
        "/home/user/mail/myprefix001" now extracts to
        "./home_user_mail_myprefix001" in the current directory.</span></p>
    <p><span>While I cannot definitively say whether either behavior
        should be considered a bug or feature, this change has caused
        issues for our existing workflows and scripts that relied on the
        previous path-handling behavior. The change was undocumented and
        unexpected from our perspective.</span></p>
    <p><span>I have identified the specific code responsible for this
        behavior change and have prepared a patch that would restore the
        ability to use paths in the -x option while maintaining backward
        compatibility.</span></p>
    <p><span>Could you please clarify the intended behavior for the -x
        option? If you would consider accepting a patch to restore the
        previous functionality (perhaps as an additional option to
        maintain compatibility), please let me know the preferred method
        for submitting contributions.</span></p>
    <p><span>Thank you for your time and for maintaining this useful
        tool.</span></p>
    <p><span>Best regards,<br>
        Jan Smutný<br>
      </span></p>
    <div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
      <style>
  p.signature {
    margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;
    font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;
  }

  a.signature-link {
    color: #954f72;
    text-decoration: none;
  }
</style>
      <p class="signature">S pozdravem / Best regards</p>
      <p class="signature">Ing. Jan Smutny</p>
      <p class="signature">EXCELLO | Virusfree</p>
      <p class="signature"><br>
      </p>
      <p class="signature">E: <a
          class="signature-link moz-txt-link-freetext"
          href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p>
      <p class="signature">W: <a
          class="signature-link moz-txt-link-freetext"
          href="http://www.excello.cz/">http://www.excello.cz</a></p>
      <p class="signature">W: <a
          class="signature-link moz-txt-link-freetext"
          href="http://www.virusfree.cz/">http://www.virusfree.cz</a></p>
      <p class="signature"><br>
      </p>
      <p class="signature"><a class="signature-link"
          href="https://twitter.com/excello_cz">Twitter</a></p>
      <p class="signature"><a class="signature-link"
          href="http://www.linkedin.com/company/511927">Linkedin</a></p>
    </div>
  </body>
</html>

--------------Gl5JQlIODQpU20dyDqzQfSdS--


--===============5663515273411080113==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline


--===============5663515273411080113==
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline

_______________________________________________
Courier-maildrop mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/courier-maildrop

--===============5663515273411080113==--