multipart/alternative mail in doc group (bug?)

multipart/alternative mail in doc group (bug?)

[Stephen Berman]

(Using Gnus 5.10.2) When I have several multipart/alternative mails
saved in a Unix mail file, make a doc group out of it with G f and
then press <space> on the group to read the mail, what I see in the
summary buffer is this:

 . [  39: John Doe              ] <* alternative> Our New Address
 .     [  22: John Doe              ] <1 text>
 .     [   9: John Doe              ] <2 html>

all of which is just the first mail in the file; all other mails are
not seen and not accessible by Gnus (but are e.g. by mutt).  This only
happens if the first mail in the file is multipart/alternative; if the
first mail is not multipart but e.g. just text/plain and all the
following mails are multipart/alternative, Gnus displays all entries
correctly in the summary buffer.

Is there some variable I should be setting to prevent this
(gnus-inhibit-mime-unbuttonizing is not relevant) or something else I
should be doing when creating a doc group out of multipart/alternative
messages, or is this a bug?  I couldn't find anything helpful in the
manual or internet.

--Steve Berman

Re: multipart/alternative mail in doc group (bug?)

[Jesper Harder]

Stephen Berman <steve@ims.uni-stuttgart.de> writes:

> When I have several multipart/alternative mails saved in a Unix mail
> file, make a doc group out of it with G f and then press <space>
> [...]  This only happens if the first mail in the file is
> multipart/alternative; if the first mail is not multipart but
> e.g. just text/plain and all the following mails are
> multipart/alternative, Gnus displays all entries correctly in the
> summary buffer.

Does it work if you do `C-u G f' and specify mbox as the type?

Re: multipart/alternative mail in doc group (bug?)

[Stephen Berman]

On Fri, 10 Oct 2003 05:03:56 +0200 Jesper Harder <harder@myrealbox.com> wrote:

> Stephen Berman <steve@ims.uni-stuttgart.de> writes:
>
>> When I have several multipart/alternative mails saved in a Unix mail
>> file, make a doc group out of it with G f and then press <space>
>> [...]  This only happens if the first mail in the file is
>> multipart/alternative; if the first mail is not multipart but
>> e.g. just text/plain and all the following mails are
>> multipart/alternative, Gnus displays all entries correctly in the
>> summary buffer.
>
> Does it work if you do `C-u G f' and specify mbox as the type?

Yes it does; thanks!  I suppose the problem was that by not specifying
the type, Gnus guessed `mime-parts'?  Maybe I should have figured this
out, or just tried using the prefix argument, but it just didn't occur
to me that this was related to the problem.  I think it would be
helpful to note this possibility in the manual and perhaps also in the
docstring; maybe something like this: "If you want to create a doc
group of a specific type and the content-type of the mail could lead
Gnus to guess the wrong type (e.g., if you want to create an mbox
group but the (first) mail in the file has content-type
multipart/alternative), then be sure to use `C-u G f' to create the
group."

I still don't understand why Gnus only displayed the first of the
multipart messages; is this expected?

--Steve Berman

Re: multipart/alternative mail in doc group (bug?)

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Stephen Berman <steve@ims.uni-stuttgart.de> writes:

> I still don't understand why Gnus only displayed the first of the
> multipart messages; is this expected?

If nndoc guesses wrongly about what type the message is, the results
can be unpredictable.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
  larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen