<html> <head> <title>MHonArc Resources: DATEFIELDS</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../docstyles.css"> </head> <body> <!--x-rc-nav--> <table border=0><tr valign="top"> <td align="left" width="50%">[Prev: <a href="conlen.html">CONLEN</a>]</td><td><nobr>[<a href="../resources.html#datefields">Resources</a>][<a href="../mhonarc.html">TOC</a>]</nobr></td><td align="right" width="50%">[Next: <a href="daybegin.html">DAYBEGIN</a>]</td></tr></table> <!--/x-rc-nav--> <hr> <h1>DATEFIELDS</h1> <!--X-TOC-Start--> <ul> <li><a href="#syntax">Syntax</a> <li><a href="#description">Description</a> <li><a href="#default">Default Setting</a> <li><a href="#rcvars">Resource Variables</a> <li><a href="#examples">Examples</a> <ul> <li><small><a href="#">Using composition date</a></small> <li><small><a href="#">Indexed fields</a></small> </ul> <li><a href="#version">Version</a> <li><a href="#seealso">See Also</a> </ul> <!--X-TOC-End--> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="syntax">Syntax</a></h2> <dl> <dt><strong>Envariable</strong></dt> <dd><p><br> <code>M2H_DATEFIELDS=</code><var>field1</var><code>:</code><var >field2</var><code>:</code><var>...</var><code>:</code><var >fieldN</var> </p> </dd> <dt><strong>Element</strong></dt> <dd><p> <code><DATEFIELDS></code><br> <var>field1</var><code>:</code><var >field2</var><code>:</code><var>...</var><code>:</code><var >fieldN</var><br> <code></DATEFIELDS></code><br> </p> </dd> <dt><strong>Command-line Option</strong></dt> <dd><p> <code>-datefields </code><var>field1</var><code>:</code><var >field2</var><code>:</code><var>...</var><code>:</code><var >fieldN</var> </p> </dd> </dl> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="description">Description</a></h2> <p>DATEFIELDS specify the message header fields mhonarc will search to determine the dates of messages. Each field will be checked in the ordered specified. </p> <p>The value of the DATEFIELDS is a colon separated list of message header fields to check. Since it is legal for multiple fields with the same name to appear in a message header (e.g. <tt>Received</tt>), indexed fields are supported. For example, </p> <pre class="code"> <b><DateFields></b> received[1]:received[0]:date <b></DateFields></b> </pre> <p>The example says that mhonarc should check the second received field, then the first received field, and then the first date field to determine the date of a message. </p> <p>Indexing starts at 0. I.e. An index of 0 denotes the first occurrence of the field, 1 denotes the second, etc. If no integer index is specified, then 0 is used. </p> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="default">Default Setting</a></h2> <pre class="code"> received:date </pre> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="rcvars">Resource Variables</a></h2> <p>N/A </p> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="examples">Examples</a></h2> <h3>Using composition date</h3> <p>By default. mhonarc looks at the <tt>Received</tt> fields of a message to determine a message's date. This tends to be more accurate as it tells when the message was actually received (it is better to trust a date/time you have control over vs what the sender has control over). However, you may want to have the date based upon the time the sender composed the message. The <tt>Date</tt> field usually reflects the composition date. Therefore, the following setting can be used: </p> <pre class="code"> <b><DateFields></b> date:received <b></DateFields></b> </pre> <h3>Indexed fields</h3> <p>Specified indexed fields can be used if mail you archive is known to following a specific delivery path. Here is an example scenario: </p> <ol> <li>All incoming mail is first delivered to a central POP mail server of our ISP.</li> <li><a href="http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/fetchmail/"><tt>fetchmail</tt></a> is used to download the mail from the POP server to our local SMTP server.</li> <li>The local SMTP server delivers the mail to a local user account that is used to archive the mail.</li> </ol> <p>With this scenario, we prefer to use the date stamp from the ISP server since our local system may not always be up. Each step above causes a <tt>Received</tt> header field to be added to the message. Since <tt>Received</tt> fields are listed from final delivery point to starting delivery point (i.e. each step inserts a <tt>Received</tt> field above existing header fields), we want to base the message date on the 3rd <tt>Received</tt> field (the one created by the ISP mail server). Hence, DATEFIELDS shall be set to the following: </p> <pre class="code"> <b><DateFields></b> received[2]:received[1]:received[0]:date <b></DateFields></b> </pre> <p>We still specify fallback fields just-in-case. </p> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="version">Version</a></h2> <p>2.1.1 </p> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <h2><a name="seealso">See Also</a></h2> <p> <a href="fromfields.html">FROMFIELDS</a> </p> <!-- *************************************************************** --> <hr> <!--x-rc-nav--> <table border=0><tr valign="top"> <td align="left" width="50%">[Prev: <a href="conlen.html">CONLEN</a>]</td><td><nobr>[<a href="../resources.html#datefields">Resources</a>][<a href="../mhonarc.html">TOC</a>]</nobr></td><td align="right" width="50%">[Next: <a href="daybegin.html">DAYBEGIN</a>]</td></tr></table> <!--/x-rc-nav--> <hr> <address> $Date: 2003/10/06 22:04:16 $ <br> <img align="top" src="../monicon.png" alt=""> <a href="http://www.mhonarc.org/" ><strong>MHonArc</strong></a><br> Copyright © 1998,2002, <a href="http://www.earlhood.com/" >Earl Hood</a>, <a href="mailto:mhonarc%40mhonarc.org" >mhonarc<!-- -->@<!-- -->mhonarc.org</a><br> </address> </body> </html>