Re: need a sane approach to MIME attachment organization

Mike's unattended mail spake on Saturday 20-Oct-2012@06:09:58
> I find it very sloppy that people send files attached to email, and
> I've always been disturbed that the available tools organize them
> poorly.
> 
> When an email arrives with an attachment, sometimes the attachment
> should be deleted but not the message, or vice-versa.  So it does not
> make sense to have files embedded inseperably with a message.  Nor
> does it make sense to have multiple copies (one in the email, and the
> other saved separately).
> 
> What do expert procmail users do?

Leave the messages intact. If we need the attachment elsewhere, that becomes a new file. This specific issue is why I moved from Eudora, since it strips attachments from messages (and does a few other Bad Things as well).

> All files should probably be extracted as messages arrive,

I vehemently disagree. All mail that is accepted for delivery has to be delivered intact. The only case in which I could see stripping attachments might be when delivering to a mailing list where it might be preferable to put the file somewhere and link to it so that the entire list isn't forced to receive it. Even in that case, I would be more likely to simply limit attachment size.

> Seems like a job for procmail.

MIME and procmail go together about as well as fish fingers and banana custard.

-- 
In other news, Gandalf died. -- Secret Diary of Boromir