Name¶

mimedecode – decode MIME message

Synopsis¶

mimedecode [ -h|–help ] [ -V|–version ] [ -cCDP ] [ -f charset ] [ -H|–host=hostname ] [ -d header1[,header2,header3…] ] [ -d *[,-header1,-header2,-header3…] ] [ -p header1[,header2,header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…] ] [ -p *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…] ] [ -p header1[,header2,header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…] ] [ -p *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…] ] [ -r header1[,header2,header3…] ] [ -r *[,-header1,-header2,-header3…] ] [ -R header1[,header2,header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…] ] [ -R *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…] ] [ -R header1[,header2,header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…] ] [ -R *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…] ] [ –set-header header:value ] [ –set-param header:param=value ] [ -BbeIit mask ] [ –save-headers|body|message mask ] [ -O dest_dir ] [ -o output_file ] [input_file [output_file] ]

DESCRIPTION¶

Mail users, especially in non-English countries, often find that mail messages arrived in different formats, with different content types, in different encodings and charsets. Usually it is good because it allows to use an appropriate format/encoding/whatever. Sometimes, though, some unification is desirable. For example, one may want to put mail messages into an archive, make HTML indices, run search indexer, etc. In such situations converting messages to text in one character set and skipping some binary attachments is much desirable.

Here is a solution - mimedecode!

This is a program to decode MIME messages. The program expects one input file (either on command line or on stdin) which is treated as an RFC822 message, and decodes to stdout or an output file. If the file is not an RFC822 message it is just copied to the output one-to-one. If the file is a simple RFC822 message it is decoded as one part. If it is a MIME message with multiple parts (“attachments”) all non-multipart subparts are decoded. Decoding can be controlled by the command-line options.

First, for every part the program removes headers and parameters listed with -r and -R options. Then, Subject and Content-Disposition headers (and all headers listed with -d and -p options) are examined. If any of those exists, they are decoded according to RFC2047. Content-Disposition header is not decoded (if it was not listed in option -d) - only its “filename” parameter. Encoded header parameters violate the RFC, but widely deployed anyway by ignorant coders who never even heard about RFCs. Correct parameter encoding specified by RFC2231. This program decodes RFC2231-encoded parameters, too.

Then the body of the message (or the current part) is decoded. Decoding starts with looking at header Content-Transfer-Encoding. If the header specifies non-8bit encoding (usually base64 or quoted-printable), the body is converted to 8bit (can be prevented with -B). Then if its content type is multipart (multipart/related or multipart/mixed, e.g) every part is recursively decoded. If it is not multipart, mailcap database is consulted to find a way to convert the body to plain text (can be prevented with options -Bbei). (The author has no idea how mailcap can be configured on OSes other than POSIX, please don’t ask; users can consult an example at https://phdru.name/Software/dotfiles/mailcap.html). The decoding process uses the first copiousoutput filter it can find. If there are no filters the body just passed as is.

Then Content-Type header is consulted for charset. If it is not equal to the current locale charset and recoding is allowed (see options -Cc) the body text is recoded. Finally message headers and the body are flushed to stdout.

Please be reminded that in the following options asterisk is a shell metacharacter and should be escaped or quoted. Either write -d *,-h1,-h2 or -d ‘*,-h1,-h2’ or such.

OPTIONS¶

`-h, -help`	Print brief usage help and exit.
`-V, --version`	Print version and exit.
`-c`	Recode different character sets in message bodies to the current default charset; this is the default.
`-C`	Do not recode character sets in message bodies.
`-f charset`	Force this charset to be used for recoding instead of charset from the current locale.
`-H hostname, --host=hostname`
	Use this hostname in X-MIME-Autoconverted headers instead of the current hostname.

-d header1[,header2,header3…]

Add the header(s) to a list of headers to decode; initially the list contains headers “From”, “To”, “Cc”, “Reply-To”, “Mail-Followup-To” and “Subject”.

-d *[,-header1,-header2,-header3…]

This variant completely changes headers decoding. First, the list of headers to decode is cleared (as with -D). Then all the headers are decoded except the given list of exceptions (headers listed with ‘-‘). In this mode it would be meaningless to give more than one -d options but the program doesn’t enforce the limitation.

`-D`	Clear the list of headers to decode (make it empty).

-p header1[,header2,header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…]

Add the parameter(s) to a list of headers parameters to decode; the parameter(s) will be decoded only for the given header(s). Initially the list contains header “Content-Type”, parameter “name”; and header “Content-Disposition”, parameter “filename”.

-p *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…]

Add the parameter(s) to a list of headers parameters to decode; the parameter(s) will be decoded for all headers except the given ones.

-p header1[,header2,header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…]

Decode all parameters except listed for the given list of headers.

-p *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…]

Decode all parameters except listed for all headers (except listed).

`-P`	Clear the list of headers parameters to decode (make it empty).

-r header1[,header2,header3…]

Add the header(s) to a list of headers to remove completely; initially the list is empty.

-r *[,-header1,-header2,-header3…]

Remove all headers except listed.

-R header1[,header2,header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…]

Add the parameter(s) to a list of headers parameters to remove; the parameter(s) will be removed only for the given header(s). Initially the list is empty.

-R *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:param1[,param2,param3,…]

-R header1[,header2,header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…]

-R *[,-header1,-header2,-header3,…]:*[,-param1,-param2,-param3,…]

Remove listed parameters (or all parameters except listed) from these headers (or from all headers except listed).

–set-header header:value

The program sets or changes value for the header to the given value (only at the top-level message).

–set-param header:param=value

The program sets or changes value for the header’s parameter to the given value (only at the top-level message). The header must exist.

`-B mask`	Append mask to the list of binary content types that will be not content-transfer-decoded (will be left as base64 or such).
`-b mask`	Append mask to the list of binary content types; if the message to decode has a part of this type the program content-transfer-decodes (base64 or whatever to 8bit binary) it and outputs the decoded part as is, without any further processing.
`-e mask`	Append mask to the list of error content types; if the message to decode has a part of this type the program fails with ValueError.
`-I mask`	Append mask to the list of content types to completely ignore. There will be no output - no headers, no body, no warning. For a multipart part the entire subtree is removed.
`-i mask`	Append mask to the list of content types to ignore; if the message to decode has a part of this type the program outputs headers but skips the body. Instead a line “Message body of type %s skipped.” will be issued.
`-t mask`	Append mask to the list of content types to convert to text; if the message to decode has a part of this type the program consults mailcap database, find the first copiousoutput filter and, if any filter is found, converts the part.

–save-headers mask

–save-body mask

`--save-message mask`
	Append mask to lists of content types to save to files; –save-headers saves only decoded headers of the message (or the current subpart); –save-body saves only decoded body; –save-message saves the entire message or subpart (headers + body).
`-O dest_dir`	Set destination directory for the output files; if the directory doesn’t exist it will be created. Default is the current directory.
`-o output_file`	Save output to the file related to the destination directory from option -O. Also useful in case of redirected stdin:

mimedecode -o output_file < input_file cat input_file | mimedecode -o output_file

The 5 list options (-Bbeit) require more explanation. They allow a user to control body decoding with great flexibility. Think about said mail archive; for example, its maintainer wants to put there only texts, convert PDF/Postscript to text, pass HTML and images decoding base64 to html but leaving images encoded, and ignore everything else. This is how it could be done:

mimedecode -t application/pdf -t application/postscript -t text/plain -b text/html -B ‘image/*’ -i ‘*/*’

When the program decodes a message (non-MIME or a non-multipart subpart of a MIME message), it consults Content-Type header. The content type is searched in all 5 lists, in order “text-binary-ignore-error”. If found, appropriate action is performed. If not found, the program searches the same lists for “type/*” mask (the type of “text/html” is just “text”). If found, appropriate action is performed. If not found, the program searches the same lists for “*/*” mask. If found, appropriate action is performed. If not found, the program uses the default action, which is to decode everything to text (if mailcap specifies a filter). This algorithm allows more specific content types to override less specific: -b image/* will be processed earlier than -B */*.

Options -e/-I/-i can also work with multipart subparts of a MIME message. In case of -I/-i the entire subtree of that multipart is removed; with -i it’s replaced with ignore warning.

Initially all 5 lists are empty, so without any additional parameters the program always uses the default decoding (as -t */*).

The 3 save options (–save-headers/body/message) are similar. They make the program to save every non-multipart subpart (only headers, or body, or the entire subpart: headers + body) that corresponds to the given mask to a file. Before saving the message (or the subpart) is decoded according to all other options and is placed to the output stream as usual. Filename for the file is created using “filename” parameter from the Content-Disposition header, or “name” parameter from the Content-Type header if one of those exist; a serial counter is prepended to the filename to avoid collisions; if there are no name/filename parameters, or the name/filename parameters contain forbidden characters (null, slash, backslash) the filename is just the serial counter.

If the file doesn’t have any extensions (no dots in the value of the name/filename parameters, or the name is just the counter) the program tries to guess an extension by looking up the content type in mime.types files including .mime.types file in the user’s home directory (if it exists). If the file has an extension the program doesn’t try to verify that it corresponds to the content type.

The file is saved in the directory set with -O (default is the current directory). The save options are proceeded before -e options so the user can save the message that causes an error.

ENVIRONMENT¶

LANG

LC_ALL

LC_CTYPE

Define current locale settings. Used to determine current default charset (if your Python is properly installed and configured).

BUGS¶

The program may produce incorrect MIME message. The purpose of the program is to decode whatever it is possible to decode, not to produce absolutely correct MIME output. The incorrect parts are obvious - decoded From/To/Cc/Reply-To/Mail-Followup-To/Subject headers and filenames. Other than that output is correct MIME message. The program does not try to guess whether the headers are correct. For example, if a message header states that charset is iso8859-1, but the body (HTML, for example) is actually in utf-8 the program will recode the message with the wrong charset.

AUTHOR¶

Oleg Broytman <phd@phdru.name>

COPYRIGHT¶

LICENSE¶

GNU GPL

NO WARRANTIES¶

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.