Re: Base64 decoding error
Bert Driehuis <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.mail.pine.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
On Thu, 13 Apr 2006, Jon Jensen wrote: > I'm getting a base64 decoding error when trying to view or export a > particular message that came from gmail: > > [Error: Formatting error: Illegal '=' in base64 text] > > I can decode it fine with Perl's MIME::Base64. [snip] > I looked in the archives but didn't find anyone else who's run into this same > problem. It appears to be a bug in the base64 decoder -- perhaps only when > compiled on amd64? Any suggestions on how I could track it down are welcome. I can reproduce the issue with Pine 4.64 on FreeBSD 4.11 i386. I've never seen Pine botch decoding a valid encode; however, when Pine runs into an invalid use of encoding, it ditches the buffered bits already decoded but not shown. In other words, the actual error occurs way further down the message than the screen suggests. Perl decoding it really doesn't say that much; one would have to work out exactly how the input bytes were encoded to see if Pine is overzealous (unlikely), or if Gmail borked the encoding (slightly less unlikely). What Pine is telling you is that it has an unfinished character in its buffer. I think Pine should not ditch the buffer when decoding errors occur (either refuse to show the message at all, or display everything that decodes prior to the error, those are the best options IMHO, and actually a comparable issue with borked QP encoding was rectified in a recent release). Cheers, -- Bert -- Bert Driehuis -- [email protected] -- +31-20-3116119 If the only tool you've got is an axe, every problem looks like fun! _______________________________________________ Pine-info mailing list [email protected] http://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/pine-info