[Q] winmail.dat

[Q] winmail.dat

[Didier Verna]

  Hi,

sometimes I receive attachments named winmail.dat in ms-tnef format.
Gnus only show me this, although the gmail interface seems to be able to
decypher what's inside (for instance, the last one was actually a pdf
file).

Is there a way to have Gnus decode ms-tnef and shows me the real thing ?

Thanks!

-- 
Resistance is futile. You will be jazzimilated.

Scientific site:   http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier
Music (Jazz) site: http://www.didierverna.com

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Sven Bretfeld]

Didier Verna <didier@xemacs.org> writes:

> sometimes I receive attachments named winmail.dat in ms-tnef format.
> Gnus only show me this, although the gmail interface seems to be able to
> decypher what's inside (for instance, the last one was actually a pdf
> file).

Had the same problem just today. I switched to Evolution with
plugins-experimental for this email. Know of no way that Gnus handles
these silly things.

Sven

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

"Sven Bretfeld" <sven.bretfeld@gmx.ch> writes:

> Didier Verna <didier@xemacs.org> writes:
>
>> sometimes I receive attachments named winmail.dat in ms-tnef format.
>> Gnus only show me this, although the gmail interface seems to be able to
>> decypher what's inside (for instance, the last one was actually a pdf
>> file).
>
> Had the same problem just today. I switched to Evolution with
> plugins-experimental for this email. Know of no way that Gnus handles
> these silly things.
>
> Sven
>

I cannot help you figure out how to get gnus to automatically decode a
winmail.dat attachment (I *do* dislike Outlook intensely...) but, at
least on linux, you can install the "tnef" [1] package which allows you
to extract files from a winmail.dat file.  Not ideal but at least it
works.

And then follow this up with an email to the offending sender with this
link:

http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/microsoft-outlook-tnef.html

which is an old document but I think probably applies (section 2).  I've
done this in the past and it has always worked!

HTH,
eric

Footnotes: 
[1]  http://tnef.sourceforge.net/

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.92.1 + No Gnus v0.18

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

>
> I cannot help you figure out how to get gnus to automatically decode a
> winmail.dat attachment (I *do* dislike Outlook intensely...) but, at
> least on linux, you can install the "tnef" [1] package which allows you
> to extract files from a winmail.dat file.  Not ideal but at least it
> works.

I'm the author of tnef - and I it tickles me to see someone mentioning it
before I did :)

Hopefully it can be of some assistance.  It is analogous to tar in that
it is meant to unpack the attachments which might be hiding in the
winmail.dat.  It can also unpack the RTF markup of the mail message 
which is also packed up in the winmail.dat file.

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> writes:

> Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>
>>
>> I cannot help you figure out how to get gnus to automatically decode a
>> winmail.dat attachment (I *do* dislike Outlook intensely...) but, at
>> least on linux, you can install the "tnef" [1] package which allows you
>> to extract files from a winmail.dat file.  Not ideal but at least it
>> works.
>
> I'm the author of tnef - and I it tickles me to see someone mentioning it
> before I did :)

Well, then, let me take this opportunity to thank you for tnef!  It's
one of those tools that sits there behind the scenes, ready to do the job
when needed.  I don't use it often but when I do, it's indispensable.

Thanks,
eric

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.90.1 + No Gnus v0.18

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Didier Verna]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> wrote:

> I cannot help you figure out how to get gnus to automatically decode a
> winmail.dat attachment (I *do* dislike Outlook intensely...) but, at
> least on linux, you can install the "tnef" [1] package which allows
> you to extract files from a winmail.dat file. Not ideal but at least
> it works.

  Thanks (and to Mark for writing it). That's a nice workaround.

-- 
Resistance is futile. You will be jazzimilated.

Scientific site:   http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier
Music (Jazz) site: http://www.didierverna.com

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

Didier Verna <didier@xemacs.org> writes:

> Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>> I cannot help you figure out how to get gnus to automatically decode a
>> winmail.dat attachment (I *do* dislike Outlook intensely...) but, at
>> least on linux, you can install the "tnef" [1] package which allows
>> you to extract files from a winmail.dat file. Not ideal but at least
>> it works.
>
>   Thanks (and to Mark for writing it). That's a nice workaround.

Glad this is useful to you.  However, it would be nice if some gnus
wizard could show us how to automate the extraction of winmail.dat into
attachments that can be processed as normal.  Is such a thing possible?
I don't want to even see the winmail.dat file...

thanks,
eric

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.92.1 + No Gnus v0.18

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> However, it would be nice if some gnus wizard could show us how to
> automate the extraction of winmail.dat into attachments that can be
> processed as normal.  Is such a thing possible?

I don't see why not.  Could you send me a tnef mail file for me to play
with?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>
>> However, it would be nice if some gnus wizard could show us how to
>> automate the extraction of winmail.dat into attachments that can be
>> processed as normal.  Is such a thing possible?
>
> I don't see why not.  Could you send me a tnef mail file for me to play
> with?

I don't have any handy as it has been a while since I received
one.  However, next time I do get one, I will send it on to you!  Maybe
the OP has one he/she can send you?

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.92.1 + No Gnus v0.18

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Didier Verna]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 365 bytes --]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> wrote:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

>> I don't see why not.  Could you send me a tnef mail file for me to play
>> with?

> I don't have any handy as it has been a while since I received
> one.  However, next time I do get one, I will send it on to you!  Maybe
> the OP has one he/she can send you?

  Here's one:


[-- Attachment #2: winmail.dat --]
[-- Type: application/ms-tnef, Size: 89913 bytes --]

[-- Attachment #3: Type: text/plain, Size: 153 bytes --]



-- 
Resistance is futile. You will be jazzimilated.

Scientific site:   http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier
Music (Jazz) site: http://www.didierverna.com

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Didier Verna <didier@xemacs.org> writes:

>   Here's one:

Thanks.

If I understand things correctly, a winmail.dat file is just an archive?
The one here just contained a single file -- a .pdf file.

So it seems like a possible way to approach this would be to create a
general "parse archives as MIME parts" functionality to Gnus.  That is,
when given a tar file, or a winmail.dat file, then create a separate
MIME part for each file in the archive.

Gnus would have to guess at the Content-Type of each file, but that
should be no biggie...

Does this seem reasonable?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> So it seems like a possible way to approach this would be to create a
> general "parse archives as MIME parts" functionality to Gnus.  That is,
> when given a tar file, or a winmail.dat file, then create a separate
> MIME part for each file in the archive.

So when Gnus sees an archive file, it will be returned as a
multipart/mixed MIME part.  Of course, the archive file itself can also
be one of the parts (the first, for instance?), so that the entire
archive can be saved, if the user wants that.

So the example would be parsed as

---
Content-type: multipart/mixed

Content-type: application/ms-tnef
-
Content-type: application/pdf
---

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

I've now implemented the archive-as-MIME idea, but it only supports
winmail.dat files, so far.  But it should be trivially expandable.  I
just need to test with some other archive types.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> So it seems like a possible way to approach this would be to create a
>> general "parse archives as MIME parts" functionality to Gnus.  That is,
>> when given a tar file, or a winmail.dat file, then create a separate
>> MIME part for each file in the archive.
>
> So when Gnus sees an archive file, it will be returned as a
> multipart/mixed MIME part.  Of course, the archive file itself can also
> be one of the parts (the first, for instance?), so that the entire
> archive can be saved, if the user wants that.

I would definitely find this useful, not just for tnef and tar that you
mention but also for zip files.

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.92.1 + Ma Gnus v0.2

Re: winmail.dat

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:41:35 +0100, Lars wrote:

> I've now implemented the archive-as-MIME idea, but it only supports
> winmail.dat files, so far.

Worked as advertised on the one winmail.dat file I could find in my mail
spool.

Super!


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "Some are born to sweet delight                             Adam Sjøgren
  Some are born to endless night"                        asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> I would definitely find this useful, not just for tnef and tar that you
> mention but also for zip files.

Sure, that should be equally easy.

I wonder whether the result should be a multipart/alternative containing
a multipart/mixed (with all the single files) and the original tar
archive as the alternative.  That way you can toggle between seeing all
the individual files and the archive.  At present is displays both the
archive as well as the individual files.

What would be least confusing?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

>> I would definitely find this useful, not just for tnef and tar that you
>> mention but also for zip files.
>
> Sure, that should be equally easy.

Almost, but I have to do some slight adjustments.  It looks like unzip
doesn't allow unzipping from stdin?

And I have to tweak the tar stuff.  It assumes that there's no directory
structure there, which isn't true for tar.  But it (can be) true for zip
and tnef.  Annoying that tar doesn't have an option for "ignore the
directory strucure".  I know, it's a somewhat nonsensical feature, but
it would make stuff easier here...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: winmail.dat

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Wed, 01 Feb 2012 02:18:44 +0100, Lars wrote:

> It looks like unzip doesn't allow unzipping from stdin?

I think that is what funzip(1) is for.


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "Some are born to sweet delight                             Adam Sjøgren
  Some are born to endless night"                        asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Didier Verna]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:

> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> So it seems like a possible way to approach this would be to create a
>> general "parse archives as MIME parts" functionality to Gnus.  That is,
>> when given a tar file, or a winmail.dat file, then create a separate
>> MIME part for each file in the archive.

   Sounds good, although maybe with different default behaviors
according to archive types. What I mean is that there's a difference
between:
- you attach a PDF but the guy gets a winmail.dat archive,
and
- you attach a tar.gz and the guy gets... a tar.gz.

So while it makes perfect sense to automatically decipher winmail.dat
attachments (because they were never intentional), I'm not sure I will
ever want to see the contents of a tar file displayed inline in my
article buffer.

However, a keystroke for automatically decompressing and extracting
somewhere in the file system would be neat :-)

-- 
Resistance is futile. You will be jazzimilated.

Scientific site:   http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier
Music (Jazz) site: http://www.didierverna.com

Re: winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

> I think that is what funzip(1) is for.

funzip only unpacks the first file in the archive.  Which is no fun at
all.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Didier Verna <didier@xemacs.org> writes:

>    Sounds good, although maybe with different default behaviors
> according to archive types. What I mean is that there's a difference
> between:
> - you attach a PDF but the guy gets a winmail.dat archive,
> and
> - you attach a tar.gz and the guy gets... a tar.gz.

Yeah, that's true.  Automatically unpacking tar files is perhaps a bit
too ... helpful...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Didier Verna]

[ Cc: to xemacs-beta ]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:

> I've now implemented the archive-as-MIME idea, but it only supports
> winmail.dat files, so far.  But it should be trivially expandable.  I
> just need to test with some other archive types.

  This breaks XEmacs compatibility because our version of
delete-directory doesn't accept a second argument. In fact, we don't
seem to have any simple way to delete a directory and its contents in
XEmacs right now.

I can't look into this in a short term, but maybe someone will beat me
to it...

-- 
Resistance is futile. You will be jazzimilated.

Scientific site:   http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier
Music (Jazz) site: http://www.didierverna.com

Re: winmail.dat

[Adam Sjøgren]

On Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:03:57 +0100, Lars wrote:

> asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

>> I think that is what funzip(1) is for.

> funzip only unpacks the first file in the archive.  Which is no fun at
> all.

Whoa, sorry, I only read the first sentence in the man-page, being
exited that I found something that might be of use.

That is mind-bogglingly unhelpful behaviour - least have an option
"--sane", or something...

Sorry for the noise.


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "Some are born to sweet delight                             Adam Sjøgren
  Some are born to endless night"                        asjo@koldfront.dk

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[UWE RICHARD OTTO BRAUER]

> 
> > I've now implemented the archive-as-MIME idea, but it only supports
> > winmail.dat files, so far.  But it should be trivially 
> expandable.  I
> > just need to test with some other archive types.
> 
>   This breaks XEmacs compatibility because our version of
> delete-directory doesn't accept a second argument. In fact, we don't
> seem to have any simple way to delete a directory and its 
> contents in
> XEmacs right now.

Can't you just move the directory? the trashcan pkg basically does that
when it tries to implement the MS window trashbin.

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:
>
>> I would definitely find this useful, not just for tnef and tar that you
>> mention but also for zip files.
>
> Sure, that should be equally easy.
>
> I wonder whether the result should be a multipart/alternative containing
> a multipart/mixed (with all the single files) and the original tar
> archive as the alternative.  That way you can toggle between seeing all
> the individual files and the archive.  At present is displays both the
> archive as well as the individual files.
>
> What would be least confusing?

No idea without seeing it in action.  Gut feeling would be
multipart/alternative...

-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.92.1 + Ma Gnus v0.2

Re: winmail.dat

[Eric S Fraga]

Adam Sjøgren <asjo@koldfront.dk> writes:

> On Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:41:35 +0100, Lars wrote:
>
>> I've now implemented the archive-as-MIME idea, but it only supports
>> winmail.dat files, so far.
>
> Worked as advertised on the one winmail.dat file I could find in my mail
> spool.

Ditto!  Very nice.  Thanks.
-- 
: Eric S Fraga (GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D) in Emacs 24.0.92.1 + Ma Gnus v0.2

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

UWE RICHARD OTTO BRAUER <uwe_brauer@mat.ucm.es> writes:

> Can't you just move the directory? the trashcan pkg basically does that
> when it tries to implement the MS window trashbin.

Do all Emacs instances have a trashcan package?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Didier Verna <didier@xemacs.org> writes:

>   This breaks XEmacs compatibility because our version of
> delete-directory doesn't accept a second argument. In fact, we don't
> seem to have any simple way to delete a directory and its contents in
> XEmacs right now.

I've now redefined `delete-directory' in gnus-compat.el.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Didier Verna writes:

 > delete-directory doesn't accept a second argument. In fact, we don't
 > seem to have any simple way to delete a directory and its contents in
 > XEmacs right now.

`dired-recursive-delete-directory' may want to get moved into core
(not to mention documentation)?

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

"Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org> writes:

> `dired-recursive-delete-directory' may want to get moved into core
> (not to mention documentation)?

Or perhaps just implement the RECURSIVE parameter to `delete-directory'?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Eric S Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> No idea without seeing it in action.  Gut feeling would be
> multipart/alternative...

Yes, that seems more logical, but Gnus hides the multipart/alternative
buttons by default, so then you wouldn't even know that it was an
archive file at all...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Didier Verna]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:

> "Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org> writes:
>
>> `dired-recursive-delete-directory' may want to get moved into core
>> (not to mention documentation)?
>
> Or perhaps just implement the RECURSIVE parameter to `delete-directory'?

  That would make both Emacsen more compatible with each other indeed.

-- 
Resistance is futile. You will be jazzimilated.

Scientific site:   http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier
Music (Jazz) site: http://www.didierverna.com

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Stephen J. Turnbull]

Lars Ingebrigtsen writes:
 > "Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org> writes:
 > 
 > > `dired-recursive-delete-directory' may want to get moved into core
 > > (not to mention documentation)?
 > 
 > Or perhaps just implement the RECURSIVE parameter to `delete-directory'?

DRY.

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
> If I understand things correctly, a winmail.dat file is just an archive?

Essentially yes.  MS-TNEF files can also include the RTF markup for the
mail message itself and other meta-data about the message.  Sometimes
that is all that the file contains.

Over the years maintaining my tnef program (tnef.sourceforge.net) I have
gotten semi-regular emails from people asking me why my application
didn't do anything with their attachment.  It always resolves to the
fact that it contains nothing but the markup.

Probably the markup is not of particular interest to a GNUS user so it
is fine to ignore it - just wanted to point out that some of them may
appear 'empty'.

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> writes:

> Probably the markup is not of particular interest to a GNUS user so it
> is fine to ignore it - just wanted to point out that some of them may
> appear 'empty'.

Right.  Gnus will currently list all the bits in the archive, which
should help cut down the confusion.  I think.

Do you happen to have any winmail.dat files around that are of this
type?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Do you happen to have any winmail.dat files around that are of this
> type?

Yes.
https://github.com/verdammelt/tnef/blob/master/tests/files/datafiles/rtf.tnef

The datafiles directory also contains other *.tnef files which might be
interested test cases 

Enjoy.

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> writes:

> https://github.com/verdammelt/tnef/blob/master/tests/files/datafiles/rtf.tnef

So in this case Gnus didn't list anything, because tnef doesn't list
anything, either.  Which is OK, I guess, but somewhat confusing.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no  *  Sent from my Rome

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> writes:
>
>> https://github.com/verdammelt/tnef/blob/master/tests/files/datafiles/rtf.tnef
>
> So in this case Gnus didn't list anything, because tnef doesn't list
> anything, either.  Which is OK, I guess, but somewhat confusing.

Yes.  This has been the number one question/bug-report to tnef over the
years.  Be prepared to answer the following question:

 > "why did your tnef-unpacker not do anything with my winmail.dat file?!"

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:35:10 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 

MJS> Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>> Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> writes:
>> 
>>> https://github.com/verdammelt/tnef/blob/master/tests/files/datafiles/rtf.tnef
>> 
>> So in this case Gnus didn't list anything, because tnef doesn't list
>> anything, either.  Which is OK, I guess, but somewhat confusing.

MJS> Yes.  This has been the number one question/bug-report to tnef over the
MJS> years.  Be prepared to answer the following question:

>> "why did your tnef-unpacker not do anything with my winmail.dat file?!"

What's the best way to answer it?

Ted

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> On Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:35:10 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 
>
> MJS> Yes.  This has been the number one question/bug-report to tnef over the
> MJS> years.  Be prepared to answer the following question:
>
>>> "why did your tnef-unpacker not do anything with my winmail.dat file?!"
>
> What's the best way to answer it?

I explain how to use tnef to list the files inside; and how some
winmail.dat files have no files at all in them.  I might also explain
how to use its --debug and --verbose switches to double check.  I also
usually ask for a copy of the file and I verify that there was nothing
in it (in case it is a example of something I don't currently handle).

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:54:43 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 

MJS> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:
>> On Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:35:10 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 
>> 
MJS> Yes.  This has been the number one question/bug-report to tnef over the
MJS> years.  Be prepared to answer the following question:
>> 
>>>> "why did your tnef-unpacker not do anything with my winmail.dat file?!"
>> 
>> What's the best way to answer it?

MJS> I explain how to use tnef to list the files inside; and how some
MJS> winmail.dat files have no files at all in them.  I might also explain
MJS> how to use its --debug and --verbose switches to double check.  I also
MJS> usually ask for a copy of the file and I verify that there was nothing
MJS> in it (in case it is a example of something I don't currently handle).

If this is a FAQ, is the answer posted anywhere so we can point people
to it?  That might save time for everyone.

Thanks
Ted

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

> On Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:54:43 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 
>
> If this is a FAQ, is the answer posted anywhere so we can point people
> to it?  That might save time for everyone.

No I never formalized it into a FAQ answer.  

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:57:32 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 

MJS> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

>> On Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:54:43 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 
>> 
>> If this is a FAQ, is the answer posted anywhere so we can point people
>> to it?  That might save time for everyone.

MJS> No I never formalized it into a FAQ answer.  

OK, could you point us to a "typical" reply by you to this user problem?

Ted

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Mark Simpson]

Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

>
> OK, could you point us to a "typical" reply by you to this user
> problem?


The following is as much as a 'typical' response as any:

http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=83547

In reviewing my mailing list - I could not find as many examples of this
as I thought I remembered.  So maybe it wasn't so bad.

Ciao
Mark

Re: [Q] winmail.dat

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:09:26 -0500 Mark Simpson <damned@theworld.com> wrote: 

MJS> Ted Zlatanov <tzz@lifelogs.com> writes:

>> OK, could you point us to a "typical" reply by you to this user
>> problem?

MJS> The following is as much as a 'typical' response as any:

MJS> http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=83547

MJS> In reviewing my mailing list - I could not find as many examples of this
MJS> as I thought I remembered.  So maybe it wasn't so bad.

That's great, thank you!

Ted