[Python-Dev] Testers wanted: mailbox.py bugfix (original) (raw)

Charles Cazabon python at discworld.dyndns.org
Wed Jan 17 22:36:58 CET 2007


A.M. Kuchling <amk at amk.ca> wrote:

http://www.python.org/sf/1599254 is a bug in the mailbox.py module that affects single-file mailbox formats (mbox, Babyl, MMDF) and can cause data loss.

I can't speak for MMDF or Babyl, but it's a well-known requirement that all programs on a system must use the same type of locking when mbox files are used; the administrator picks his favourite (fcntl, dotlocking, whatever) and then has to ensure all mbox-aware programs are compiled to use that locking style.

A proposed fix, mailbox-unified-patch, is attached to the bug.

I'm not sure that this actually fixes the problem, but more to the point -- I'm not sure it should try. Any mail admin that deploys multiple mbox-aware programs with different locking methods is shooting themselves in the foot, regardless of whether Python tries to turn it into "just a flesh wound"...

Charles


Charles Cazabon <python at discworld.dyndns.org> GPL'ed software available at: http://pyropus.ca/software/



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