[imp] Mac attachment testing report

[Joe Kletch]

On Mar 3, 2004, at 11:19 AM, Michael M Slusarz wrote:

> Quoting Joe Kletch <joe at kletch.com>:
>
>> Hey all,
>>
>> I setup a number of webmail clients, including IMP, and a test 
>> protocol
>> to test their ability to handle Mac files that are not BinHexed or
>> Stuufed.  My client gave me a tall order to find a webmail client that
>> could handle these diverse requirements and none were able to.
>>
>> If your interested the report is located here:
>>
>> http://webmail.burtonmayer.com/report.html
>>
>> At this point I am not too optimistic that anyone will work on this as
>> even Apple is moving away from their old file format.  Any comments 
>> and
>> suggestions will be appreciated.
>
> Ummm.... I would really like to see these messages, because all the 
> encoding
> formats you have listed are handled by Horde (following the specific 
> RFCs).
>
> Additionally, it would be great if you could explain in your boxes 
> _what_ is
> incorrectly being displayed.  I notice that if *any* of the following 
> "fail",
> you put a "No" down with no explanation:
>
>     * Ability to download the attachment.
>     IMP provides a download link to _every_ attachment, so obviously 
> this can
>     not be where the tests are failing.
>
>     * The file name is correct.
>     I have not found a message that does not have its filename 
> correctly
>     displayed on the screen.  Now, if you are talking about what the 
> *browser*
>     is trying to save the attachment as (in the Save As dialog box), 
> you are
>     talking about a whole other
>     topic, namely broken browsers, not broken webmail applications.  I 
> assume
>     that Mail.app is a local mail application on Macs - if so, this is
>     somewhat of an unfair comparison you are making.  I should surely 
> hope that
>     a native Mac application can correctly save messages on the local 
> system.
>     But when you are working with cross-platform browsers, it is much 
> more
>     difficult to try to
>     predict what any one kind of browser will do.  We have workarounds 
> for many
>     broken browsers, but without you telling us what browser you are 
> using for
>     these tests or if this is whatis failing, it is difficult to 
> understand
>     or fix what is wrong.
>
>     * The icon for the file type was visible and correct.
>     Now this is *truly* an unfair comparison/test.  You are expecting 
> a webmail
>     application to understand ALL of your _local_ file type settings.  
> You
>     obviously are expecting way too much from a cross-platform 
> application.
>     We show icons
>     for the most common file types (i.e. images, compressed files), 
> but can't
>     be expected to show images for all possible file types.  Macintosh 
> Mail.app
>     will obviously win since it has access to a much larger database of
>     OS-specific file types/icons.  For example, we sure don't have an 
> icon
>     specific to Quark Express,since how often do people get a Quark 
> Express
>     attachment in the mail (obviously, if you are in some kind of 
> publishing
>     business, you will receive this much more often, but those people 
> are in
>     the minority).  I personally think that "failing" an application 
> because
>     it doesn't show the correct icon is an awfully weak test of webmail
>     performance.
>
>     * Double clicking on the file opens the file correctly and in the 
> correct
> application.
>     If, after downloading a file, this test doesn't work, then your 
> message is
>     corrupt.  This has nothing to do with webmail viewing.  I have 
> never seen
>     IMP fail on this kind of test unless the data is corrupt - IMP is 
> simply
>     sending the data it sees in the message.
>
> Notes about specific encoding formats:
>
> appledouble:
> I am looking at an appledouble message in IMP right now.  Horde/IMP 
> supports
> multipart/appledouble messages just fine as long as they are in RFC 
> 1740
> format.
>
> MIME/Base64:
> This is the most common method of sending e-mail attachments, so IMP 
> has
> supported this encoding since the very beginning.  So obviously, it is
> something else causing this test to "fail" on your system but without 
> further
> details, it is difficult to comment any more.
>
> UUencode:
> IMP works just fine with UUencode data - make sure that this line 
> appears in
> imp/config/mime_drivers.php:
> $mime_drivers['imp']['plain']['uuencode'] = true;
>
> It would be great to help you out, but I am a bit doubtful that IMP 
> truly does
> "fail" in all of your tests, or that you are expecting too much from a
> cross-platform, centralized email system.  As mentioned above, if you 
> could
> give further details as to why each test failed, that would help a 
> bunch.
>
> michael
>
> ______________________________________________
> Michael Slusarz [slusarz at bigworm.colorado.edu]
> The University of Colorado at Boulder
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Hi Micheal,

First off I have been pushing for Horde/Imp at this and other 
clients--I think it is excellent and the best I have used. My use of 
failed is harsh term, but the requirements by my client are harsh--you 
are correct I am asking for too much of cross-platform web-based 
client. Personally I think that the my client (large printer) should 
handle this issue two ways: use business systems to communicate what 
file transmission forms are acceptable from Macs (BinHex and Stuffed) 
in email for production, and, two use Mac OS X Mail.app which is proven 
to work for production email purposes. I have told them this, yet they 
want to convert completely to webmail someday and see this as the first 
step.

My sincerest apologies for leaving out the browser: Safari.  I did 
several tests with Internet Explorer and Opera with similar results.

I'll setup an account within Horde/IMP with these test messages for you 
to see as well as send you the raw messages if you like.  I'd prefer to 
send these in private.  I'll also answer a number of the questions you 
raised above,  I need some time to review my notes.

It seems this is of interest to the Horde team and I am happy to 
provide any input I can.

Joe Kletch