Converting Maildir to Mbox format?

StarBuckb1 · 08-18-2004, 04:33 AM

Hi folks,

Does anyone know of a product that will read maildir files or something that can convert maildir to mbox format so I can recover some emails?

Thanks

signguy · 08-18-2004, 07:32 AM

I do not have one in mind right now but will keep an eye out for you. What application were you working with? You might be able to export to a format that Mail or another application can read.

yellow · 08-18-2004, 08:00 AM

If you're talking about ~/Library/Mail/ and Mail.app, it's already in mbox format. The trick is, the mailboxes that you see in ~/Library/Mail/ are actually packages continaing the mbox and other stuff. Just go to the mailbox and right click to being up the contextual menu and select "Show Package Contents", and inside you will see the mbox.

Dr. Fu · 08-20-2004, 12:15 PM

Code:

#!/bin/bash
for file in `find /Users/drfu/{current.mdir,new.mbox}/ -type f`
do
cat $file | formail >> mbox
done

This will grab the mdir directory at /Users/drfu/current.mdir and convert it to an mbox file at /Users/drfu/new.mbox

Found this somewhere on the IntarWeb yesterday while moving some mailing list archives to mailman.

HTH
DocFu

StarBuckb1 · 08-22-2004, 12:51 PM

Thanks Dr. Fu I had almost given up on doing this.

The reasons for doing this comes down to me running a 10.3 server which stores the mail in a mdir format.

If someone deletes a file they didn't want to delete this way I can recover their folder only on my desktop machine and email the file over to them afterwards.

I will try it out tomorrow at my office

Thanks

diavol · 05-31-2008, 12:11 PM

Hello everyone as this is my first post,

I wrote a similar script in PHP which can work with very big maildir folders (does not keep much in memory before writing to the mbox file thus not exhausting the php memory limits) and copes with many Header information like "X-From-Line:" and "Reply-To:" in case "From:" is missing.

I have tested it on my ubuntu 8.04 with PHP 5.2.4 and works fine.

The file is located at:
http://diavol.noobwars.gr/scripts/maildir2mbox.rar

08-18-2004, 04:33 AM	#1
StarBuckb1 Prospect Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 9	Converting Maildir to Mbox format? Hi folks, Does anyone know of a product that will read maildir files or something that can convert maildir to mbox format so I can recover some emails? Thanks

08-18-2004, 07:32 AM	#2
signguy Prospect Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Chattanooga Posts: 5	What application? I do not have one in mind right now but will keep an eye out for you. What application were you working with? You might be able to export to a format that Mail or another application can read.

08-20-2004, 12:15 PM	#4
Dr. Fu Prospect Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 1	quick and dirty shell script Code: #!/bin/bash for file in `find /Users/drfu/{current.mdir,new.mbox}/ -type f` do cat $file \| formail >> mbox done This will grab the mdir directory at /Users/drfu/current.mdir and convert it to an mbox file at /Users/drfu/new.mbox Found this somewhere on the IntarWeb yesterday while moving some mailing list archives to mailman. HTH DocFu

08-22-2004, 12:51 PM	#5
StarBuckb1 Prospect Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 9	Thanks Dr. Fu I had almost given up on doing this. The reasons for doing this comes down to me running a 10.3 server which stores the mail in a mdir format. If someone deletes a file they didn't want to delete this way I can recover their folder only on my desktop machine and email the file over to them afterwards. I will try it out tomorrow at my office Thanks Last edited by StarBuckb1; 08-22-2004 at 12:53 PM.

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08-18-2004, 08:00 AM	#3
yellow Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 10,666	If you're talking about ~/Library/Mail/ and Mail.app, it's already in mbox format. The trick is, the mailboxes that you see in ~/Library/Mail/ are actually packages continaing the mbox and other stuff. Just go to the mailbox and right click to being up the contextual menu and select "Show Package Contents", and inside you will see the mbox.

05-31-2008, 12:11 PM	#6
diavol Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 1	Hello everyone as this is my first post, I wrote a similar script in PHP which can work with very big maildir folders (does not keep much in memory before writing to the mbox file thus not exhausting the php memory limits) and copes with many Header information like "X-From-Line:" and "Reply-To:" in case "From:" is missing. I have tested it on my ubuntu 8.04 with PHP 5.2.4 and works fine. The file is located at: http://diavol.noobwars.gr/scripts/maildir2mbox.rar