On Tue, Oct 7, 2025 at 12:17 PM Richard Owlett <[email protected]> wrote: > > On 10/7/25 11:17 AM, Galen Seitz wrote: > > On 10/7/25 08:48, Richard Owlett wrote: > >> I access a POP server with SeaMonkey running on a Debian system. > >> Eventually I want to understand the structure SeaMonkey uses for > >> storing its mailbox files. > >> > >> This is the first time I've dived into the details of email. > >> > >> My initial underlying question is "What does a stream of bytes > >> representing an email look like as it leaves a POP server?" > >> > >> I'm looking for background that will allow me to ask intelligent > >> questions ;} > > > > <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_Office_Protocol> > > <https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1939.txt> > > My question poorly phrased. > Those might be termed a discussion of ~"handshake protocol", I was > looking for structure of message content. > Still poorly phrased. > > > > > A quick search suggests that the Seamonkey email client stores email in > > MBOX format. > > <https://www.loc.gov/preservation/digital/formats/fdd/fdd000383.shtml> > > That comes closer to what I'm looking for. > I'd already found it and my dissatisfaction with it was part of what > prompted my post. > Thanks for trying. > >
Mbox is a text format. You can open one of your mailbox files in a text editor and look at the format. Once you look at the file it starts to make more sense how it is structured and you can ask more questions about it. In transit it looks like a bunch of data wrapped in IP packets pretty much like everything else in transit over the internet. Bill Barry
