Bug In MIME.EXE With NULL's?

[Robert Atkinson]

I'm trying to MIME encode a Comma Seperated file to be emailed to a user.

Some of the fields contain NULL characters, encased in quotes.

When MIME hits one of these, it truncates the record including the CRLF record terminator.

It this a bug?

Does anyone have a Perl script that I can use to search files for a NULL and send a warning?

Are there any other utilities available that can MIME encode a file?

Rob.

[Robert Atkinson]

I should add, I'm using the command 'MIME> ADD /TEXT' - perhaps this is why it's falling over the NULL?

Rob.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Bob,

Just tried to mail a txt file with NULL, "NULL" and 'NULL' and it all arrived well (no trunc).

Mime 1.7 on VMS 7.3.

The file is ADDed without any options in mime.

Wim

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Same test with /text, same result.

Wim

[Volker Halle]

Rob,

confirmed with MIME V1.9 on OpenVMS Alpha V8.2. Maybe you need MIME> ADD/BIN file

Wim,

it's about a binary NULL character - can be created in TPU with Gold 0 Gold 3 (=SPECINS)

Volker.

[Robert Atkinson]

Can't use ADD/BIN, as it comes out as a stream style record (no CRLF record terminator).

Rob.

[Volker Halle]

Rob,

ADD

/BINARY

Sets Content-Type to "application/octet-stream" and
Content-Transfer-Encoding to "Base64". This format can
be used to represent an arbitrary binary data stream.

The binary NULL correctly arrives after an ADD/BIN and sending the created MIME mail file through VMSmail locally.

Volker.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

OK. Bad result on 1.7 too.
But this is what I expect of binary data.

Wim

[Robert Atkinson]

Is NULL really binary - it's part of the standard ASCII set?

Rob.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

All binary values are in the ascii set.

May be better to speek of printable.

Why not zip it first ?

Wim

[Joseph Huber_1 · Accepted solution]

If a file may contain "unprintable" characters,
then use Quoted-Printable encoding (why else do You want MIME encode ?):

MIME> add/text/encode=Quoted file

or add a line for the file-extension in
SYS$COMMON:[SYSMGR]MIME$FILETYPES.DAT
specifying
thistyp, text/plain, Quoted-Printable

so that a simple ADD does it for *.thistyp .

[Joseph Huber_1]

is NULL binary ?

Every thing in memory (or a file) is binary.
The question here is, TEXT in mail should be
ASCII codes 32-126 only, everything else should be quoted.

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Nice Joseph. It works on 1.7.

WIm

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

MIME$FILETYPES.DAT must be modified after each upgrade ! I would go for the /enc.

Wim

[Robert Atkinson]

Joseph, likewise, that works perfectly here too.

Many thanks for your help.

Rob.

[Joseph Huber_1]

Wim, are You sure ?
Even if it is replaced by VMS upgrades, don't You have, as a system manager, a separate directory, where all the customized files live ? :-)

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

It's documented. They say that the file is only replaced when it is modified by HP. Otherwise the file is not in the upgrade kit. So you must re-apply the change (or the next system manager will post the same question over here).

Wim

[Wim Van den Wyngaert]

Be aware of the side effects.
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1036127

Wim