1mmdf(5)                          User Manuals                          mmdf(5)
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NAME

6       MMDF - Multi-channel Memorandum Distribution Facility mailbox format
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DESCRIPTION

9       This  document  describes the MMDF mailbox format used by some MTAs and
10       MUAs (i.e.  scomail(1)) to store mail messages locally.
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12       An MMDF mailbox is a text file containing an arbitrary number of e-mail
13       messages.   Each  message consists of a postmark, followed by an e-mail
14       message formatted according to RFC5322, followed  by  a  postmark.  The
15       file  format is line-oriented. Lines are separated by line feed charac‐
16       ters (ASCII 10).  A postmark  line  consists  of  the  four  characters
17       "^A^A^A^A" (Control-A; ASCII 1).
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19       Example of a MMDF mailbox holding two mails:
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21              ^A^A^A^A
22              From: example@example.com
23              To: example@example.org
24              Subject: test
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26              From what I learned about the MMDF-format:
27              ...
28              ^A^A^A^A
29              ^A^A^A^A
30              From: example@example.com
31              To: example@example.org
32              Subject: test 2
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34              bar
35              ^A^A^A^A
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37       In  contrast  to  most other single file mailbox formats like MBOXO and
38       MBOXRD (see mbox(5) and RFC4155) there  is  no  need  to  quote/dequote
39       "From  "-lines  in MMDF mailboxes as such lines have no special meaning
40       in this format.
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42       If the modification-time (usually determined via stat(2)) of a nonempty
43       mailbox  file  is  greater  than the access-time the file has new mail.
44       Many MUAs place a Status: header in each message to indicate which mes‐
45       sages have already been read.
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LOCKING

48       Since MMDF files are frequently accessed by multiple programs in paral‐
49       lel, MMDF files should generally not be accessed without locking.
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51       Three different locking mechanisms (and combinations  thereof)  are  in
52       general use:
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54       ·      fcntl(2)  locking is mostly used on recent, POSIX-compliant sys‐
55              tems. Use of this locking method is, in particular, advisable if
56              MMDF  files  are accessed through the Network File System (NFS),
57              since it seems the only way to reliably invalidate NFS  clients'
58              caches.
59
60       ·      flock(2) locking is mostly used on BSD-based systems.
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62       ·      Dotlocking  is used on all kinds of systems. In order to lock an
63              MMDF file named folder, an application first creates a temporary
64              file  with  a  unique  name in the directory in which the folder
65              resides. The application then tries to use  the  link(2)  system
66              call  to  create  a hard link named folder.lock to the temporary
67              file. The success of the link(2) system call should be addition‐
68              ally  verified  using  stat(2) calls. If the link has succeeded,
69              the mail folder is considered dotlocked. The temporary file  can
70              then safely be unlinked.
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72              In  order  to  release the lock, an application just unlinks the
73              folder.lock file.
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75       If multiple methods are combined, implementors should make sure to  use
76       the  non-blocking variants of the fcntl(2) and flock(2) system calls in
77       order to avoid deadlocks.
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79       If multiple methods are combined, an MMDF file must not  be  considered
80       to  have  been  successfully  locked  before  all individual locks were
81       obtained. When one of the individual locking methods fails, an applica‐
82       tion should release all locks it acquired successfully, and restart the
83       entire locking procedure from the beginning, after a suitable delay.
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85       The locking mechanism used on a particular system is a matter of  local
86       policy,  and  should be consistently used by all applications installed
87       on the system which access MMDF files. Failure to do so may  result  in
88       loss of e-mail data, and in corrupted MMDF files.
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CONFORMING TO

91       MMDF is not part of any currently supported standard.
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HISTORY

94       MMDF was developed at the University of Delaware by Dave Crocker.
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SEE ALSO

97       scomail(1),  fcntl(2),  flock(2),  link(2),  stat(2), mbox(5), RFC4155,
98       RFC5322
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AUTHOR

102       Urs Janssen <urs@tin.org>
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106Unix                          November 5th, 2013                       mmdf(5)
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