Mark Crispin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Jan 2004, Paul Jarc wrote:
>> Please confirm my understanding here.  In a text/plain message,
>> BODY[TEXT] and BODY[1.TEXT] refer to the same data (the message body),
>> and BODY[] and BODY[1] refer to the same data (the full message,
>> header and body).
>
> No.  In a text/plain message, BODY[TEXT] and BODY[1] refer to the same
> data (the message body).

Ok.  I think that could stand to be clarified in a future update of
RFC3501.

>> But in a multipart/* message which contains a message/rfc822 part
>> as its only part, BODY[TEXT] refers to the body of the outer
>> multipart message
>
> BODY[TEXT] refers to the message body.  It's the same as RFC822.TEXT,
> disregarding any MIME structure.

Ok, that's what I was saying.

Now, IIUC, if the top-level message is message/rfc822, then [TEXT] is
(the header and body of) the encapsulated message, [1] is the same,
and [1.HEADER] and [1.TEXT] are the encapsulated header and body
individually.  If the encapsulated message itself is also
message/rfc822, then [1.TEXT] is the header and body of the
doubly-encapsulated message, and there is no way to refer to the
header and body individually.  The doubly-encapsulated message has
structure - a header and body - but that structure is not expressible
in IMAP's part specifiers.  Right?

> An excellent playpen is the MIME torture test message on
>       ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/mail/mime/torture-test.mbox

Thanks.

Somewhat related: is a client allowed to request multiple BODY[...]
parts in a single FETCH command?  Does it come up in practice?  E.g.:
tag FETCH 1 (BODY[1.TEXT]<17.42> BODY[2.HEADER]<42.101> BODY[3.2.1])


paul

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