How to truncate a mailbox periodically?
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool? I have a couple of mail spools where I want to be able to do this, possibly with different 'number of days' expiry. -- Chris Green
On 12-Mar-09 13:15:52, Chris G wrote:
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool?
I have a couple of mail spools where I want to be able to do this, possibly with different 'number of days' expiry.
-- Chris Green
Possibly some MUAs may have a configuration option to "Do [X] to messages in Folder [Y] which are more than [Z] days old", but probably most do not. In my case, all my Mail folders are in MH format, i.e. each message is a separate file (whose name is a number) in the folder. Therefore I could run a cron job on selected folders, checking the age of each message from its timestamp, and then do with it what I will. So, for flexibility, maybe think about using MH mail folders? Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 12-Mar-09 Time: 13:34:55 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 01:34:59PM -0000, Ted Harding wrote:
On 12-Mar-09 13:15:52, Chris G wrote:
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool?
I have a couple of mail spools where I want to be able to do this, possibly with different 'number of days' expiry.
-- Chris Green
Possibly some MUAs may have a configuration option to "Do [X] to messages in Folder [Y] which are more than [Z] days old", but probably most do not.
In my case, all my Mail folders are in MH format, i.e. each message is a separate file (whose name is a number) in the folder. Therefore I could run a cron job on selected folders, checking the age of each message from its timestamp, and then do with it what I will.
So, for flexibility, maybe think about using MH mail folders?
It is simple with maildir too but the problem is I mean a real Linux/Unix mail spool as in what you find in:- /var/mail/<name of user> I don't think these can be maildir can they? -- Chris Green
On 12-Mar-09 18:36:33, Chris G wrote:
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 01:34:59PM -0000, Ted Harding wrote:
On 12-Mar-09 13:15:52, Chris G wrote:
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool?
I have a couple of mail spools where I want to be able to do this, possibly with different 'number of days' expiry.
-- Chris Green
Possibly some MUAs may have a configuration option to "Do [X] to messages in Folder [Y] which are more than [Z] days old", but probably most do not.
In my case, all my Mail folders are in MH format, i.e. each message is a separate file (whose name is a number) in the folder. Therefore I could run a cron job on selected folders, checking the age of each message from its timestamp, and then do with it what I will.
So, for flexibility, maybe think about using MH mail folders?
It is simple with maildir too but the problem is I mean a real Linux/Unix mail spool as in what you find in:-
/var/mail/<name of user>
I don't think these can be maildir can they?
-- Chris Green
True (I overlooked the word "spool" in your query). However, one should still be able to do the same sort of thing, since var/mail/... files are plaintext Unix mbox, which have a straightforward structure which can be parsed. Namely: The first message starts on the first line of the file with the word "From " at the start of the line (which is why such lines in a message body get changed to ">From "). Subsequent messages start in the same way, separated by a blank line from the preceding message. Hence (e.g. with a suitable 'awk' program, or 'perl' if you are that sort of person) you can identify where in the file each message starts and ends, and read its "Date: ". Then, if it's one that you want to do something with, do it; and delete it (including its preceding blank line, or the following one if it's the first). It's probably a good idea to work with a copy of the file, and also to lock the real /var/mail file while you're doing it. Then, if the work on the copy succeeds, copy the changed version back over the original. Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 12-Mar-09 Time: 18:57:57 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
Sorry (writing too quickly): Correction to MBOX description needed. See at end. On 12-Mar-09 18:57:59, Ted Harding wrote:
On 12-Mar-09 18:36:33, Chris G wrote:
On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 01:34:59PM -0000, Ted Harding wrote:
On 12-Mar-09 13:15:52, Chris G wrote:
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool?
I have a couple of mail spools where I want to be able to do this, possibly with different 'number of days' expiry.
-- Chris Green
Possibly some MUAs may have a configuration option to "Do [X] to messages in Folder [Y] which are more than [Z] days old", but probably most do not.
In my case, all my Mail folders are in MH format, i.e. each message is a separate file (whose name is a number) in the folder. Therefore I could run a cron job on selected folders, checking the age of each message from its timestamp, and then do with it what I will.
So, for flexibility, maybe think about using MH mail folders?
It is simple with maildir too but the problem is I mean a real Linux/Unix mail spool as in what you find in:-
/var/mail/<name of user>
I don't think these can be maildir can they?
-- Chris Green
True (I overlooked the word "spool" in your query). However, one should still be able to do the same sort of thing, since var/mail/... files are plaintext Unix mbox, which have a straightforward structure which can be parsed.
Namely: The first message starts on the first line of the file with the word "From " at the start of the line (which is why such lines in a message body get changed to ">From ").
Subsequent messages start in the same way, separated by a blank line from the preceding message.
Hence (e.g. with a suitable 'awk' program, or 'perl' if you are that sort of person) you can identify where in the file each message starts and ends, and read its "Date: ".
Then, if it's one that you want to do something with, do it; and delete it (including its preceding blank line, or the following one if it's the first).
It's probably a good idea to work with a copy of the file, and also to lock the real /var/mail file while you're doing it. Then, if the work on the copy succeeds, copy the changed version back over the original.
Ted.
The MBOX structure is: Each message starts with "From " at the start of a line, and is followed by a blank line. This includes the last message in the file, so the last line in the file is blank. Hence, to delete a message, delete from "From " up to and including the next blank line preceding either "From " at the start of a line or the end of file. Sorry! Ted. -------------------------------------------------------------------- E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <Ted.Harding@manchester.ac.uk> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 Date: 12-Mar-09 Time: 19:06:23 ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------
Chris G <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool?
Install Heirloom mailx, then date -d '7 days ago' '+d (before %d-%b-%Y)' | mailx -f path/to/mbox Replace mailx with nail for older versions of debian and ubuntu, but I'm not sure in which version the () style of selection appeared. Hope that helps, -- MJ Ray (slef) Webmaster for hire, statistician and online shop builder for a small worker cooperative http://www.ttllp.co.uk/ http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ (Notice http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html) tel:+44-844-4437-237
On Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 01:56:22PM +0000, MJ Ray wrote:
Chris G <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
Can anyone suggest a neat/easy way to keep only (say) the last seven days of messages in an incoming mail spool?
Install Heirloom mailx, then date -d '7 days ago' '+d (before %d-%b-%Y)' | mailx -f path/to/mbox
Replace mailx with nail for older versions of debian and ubuntu, but I'm not sure in which version the () style of selection appeared.
Excellent, thanks, that looks like just what I need. -- Chris Green
participants (3)
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Chris G -
MJ Ray -
Ted.Harding＠manchester.ac.uk