Comments on: Weekly Tip #3: Categorizing E-Mails with maildrop http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/ Your one-stop place for Apis Networks updates Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:09:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: David Kozinn http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/#comment-17 David Kozinn Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:34:28 +0000 http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/#comment-17 Touche. Touche.

]]> By: Matt http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/#comment-16 Matt Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:49:33 +0000 http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/#comment-16 I'll concede on problem #1. Examining the last hop would be a safer option. "Date:" is an arbitrary header that any e-mail client can set, but from experience, I know these headers from fftoday.com are consistent with the actual times. Previous "Received-By" headers may not always be present, may be intentionally forged, or even may be erroneous. Only trust the last Received-By header, because that is the one the final hop added before delivery. Body matching and capturing was a bit over the head for everyone, so I skipped on discussing those topics. In the context of what was discussed -- and its status as a legitimate problem -- matching the body is incorrect :). Anyway, it should be "if (/^FF Today:/Db)" because we are concerned about case and the crucial colon, but now I'm being pedantic. I’ll concede on problem #1. Examining the last hop would be a safer option. “Date:” is an arbitrary header that any e-mail client can set, but from experience, I know these headers from fftoday.com are consistent with the actual times. Previous “Received-By” headers may not always be present, may be intentionally forged, or even may be erroneous. Only trust the last Received-By header, because that is the one the final hop added before delivery.

Body matching and capturing was a bit over the head for everyone, so I skipped on discussing those topics. In the context of what was discussed — and its status as a legitimate problem — matching the body is incorrect :). Anyway, it should be “if (/^FF Today:/Db)” because we are concerned about case and the crucial colon, but now I’m being pedantic.

]]> By: David Kozinn http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/#comment-15 David Kozinn Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:32:05 +0000 http://blog.apisnetworks.com/2007/09/17/weekly-tip-3-categorizing-e-mails-with-maildrop/#comment-15 Hey teacher, not fair! :-) For problem 1, you said DELIVERED in August 2007. The Date just shows when the sending machine (or presumably first receiving SMTP server) thinks it was sent. I'd argue that the correct answer would actually have to look at the Received-By: line for the date where it shows that it was delivered to you (which of course isn't always present, though it is here.) For #2, you said "If the message starts with “FF Today:”, ", so I think it would actually be: # Pattern match on body if (/^FF Today/b) { to "Mail/.FF Today/" } I did get pretty much the same thing for 3, and I got a bit into #4 and gave up, as I was getting a headache. Thanks for the interesting exercise! Hey teacher, not fair! :-)

For problem 1, you said DELIVERED in August 2007. The Date just shows when the sending machine (or presumably first receiving SMTP server) thinks it was sent. I’d argue that the correct answer would actually have to look at the Received-By: line for the date where it shows that it was delivered to you (which of course isn’t always present, though it is here.)

For #2, you said “If the message starts with “FF Today:”, “, so I think it would actually be:

# Pattern match on body
if (/^FF Today/b)
{
to “Mail/.FF Today/”
}

I did get pretty much the same thing for 3, and I got a bit into #4 and gave up, as I was getting a headache.

Thanks for the interesting exercise!

]]>