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mailcap module may not work on non-POSIX platforms if MAILCAPS env variable is set #54132

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gnofi mannequin opened this issue Sep 23, 2010 · 10 comments
Closed

mailcap module may not work on non-POSIX platforms if MAILCAPS env variable is set #54132

gnofi mannequin opened this issue Sep 23, 2010 · 10 comments
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@ncoghlan
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OS-windows stdlib Python modules in the Lib dir type-bug An unexpected behavior, bug, or error

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@gnofi
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Mannequin

gnofi mannequin commented Sep 23, 2010

BPO 9923
Nosy @ncoghlan, @ned-deily, @merwok
Dependencies
  • bpo-6484: No unit test for mailcap module
    		•
    Files
  • mailcap_trunk.py: trunk patch
  • mailcap_py3k.py: py3k branch patch
    		•

    Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.

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    GitHub fields:

    assignee = 'https://github.com/ncoghlan'
closed_at = <Date 2011-08-27.14:32:06.701>
created_at = <Date 2010-09-23.03:03:55.277>
labels = ['type-bug', 'library', 'OS-windows']
title = 'mailcap module may not work on non-POSIX platforms if MAILCAPS env variable is set'
updated_at = <Date 2011-08-27.14:32:06.700>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/gnofi'

    bugs.python.org fields:

    activity = <Date 2011-08-27.14:32:06.700>
actor = 'ncoghlan'
assignee = 'ncoghlan'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2011-08-27.14:32:06.701>
closer = 'ncoghlan'
components = ['Library (Lib)', 'Windows']
creation = <Date 2010-09-23.03:03:55.277>
creator = 'gnofi'
dependencies = ['6484']
files = ['18969', '18970']
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 9923
keywords = []
message_count = 10.0
messages = ['117163', '117164', '117326', '117395', '117939', '135470', '135557', '135593', '143067', '143069']
nosy_count = 5.0
nosy_names = ['ncoghlan', 'ned.deily', 'eric.araujo', 'gnofi', 'python-dev']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue9923'
versions = ['Python 3.3']
    @gnofi
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    gnofi mannequin commented Sep 23, 2010

    mailcap.getcaps() has a call to mailcap.listmailcapfiles(), which returns a list of all mailcap files found on the system.

    listmailcapfiles() first looks for the MAILCAPS environment variable. If it exists, it converts the string value into a list by splitting it on ":". This will not work on platforms that use other path separators, like Windows (";").

    Attached are patches that use os.pathsep instead.

    For more information about the MAILCAPS variable, see Appendix A in RFC 1524 (http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1524.html).

    @gnofi gnofi mannequin assigned ronaldoussoren Sep 23, 2010
    @gnofi gnofi mannequin added OS-mac stdlib Python modules in the Lib dir OS-windows type-bug An unexpected behavior, bug, or error labels Sep 23, 2010
    @gnofi
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    gnofi mannequin commented Sep 23, 2010

    Fixing typo in title

    @gnofi gnofi mannequin changed the title mailcap module may will not work on non-POSIX platforms if MAILCAPS env variable is set mailcap module may not work on non-POSIX platforms if MAILCAPS env variable is set Sep 23, 2010
    @ronaldoussoren ronaldoussoren removed their assignment Sep 24, 2010
    @ned-deily
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    Thanks for the patches. Can you also add a test case to Lib/test/mailcap.py to cover this problem?

    @gnofi
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    gnofi mannequin commented Sep 25, 2010

    I'm also creating a test for mailcap (bpo-6484), which is how I found this bug. I'll have an update to that test submitted soon once I implement r.david.murray's helpful suggestions.

    @gnofi
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    gnofi mannequin commented Oct 4, 2010

    I just submitted new versions of test_mailcap.py in case 6484.

    @merwok
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    merwok commented May 7, 2011

    BTW, is there a real use case that lead you to open this report, or is it just theoretical? I’m not even sure mailcap is used on non-UNIX (and even there, I think it’s not used by recent tools).

    @gnofi
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    gnofi mannequin commented May 9, 2011

    It's just theoretical. A web search shows that a few Windows programs, like PC Pine, can use $MAILCAPS. But none of those tools look recent, like you said.

    @merwok
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    merwok commented May 9, 2011

    Okay. Nonetheless, splitting on os.sep doesn’t cost us anything and is IMO a good practice to follow.

    @ncoghlan ncoghlan self-assigned this Aug 23, 2011
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    python-dev mannequin commented Aug 27, 2011

    New changeset 7b83d2c1aad9 by Nick Coghlan in branch 'default':
    Fix bpo-9923: mailcap now uses the OS path separator for the MAILCAP envvar. Not backported, since it could break cases where people worked around the old POSIX-specific behaviour on non-POSIX platforms.
    http://hg.python.org/cpython/rev/7b83d2c1aad9

    @ncoghlan
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    As noted in the commit message, I didn't backport this, since it didn't seem worth risking breaking even the unlikely case that someone actually *was* using the MAILCAP environment variable on Windows.

    @ezio-melotti ezio-melotti transferred this issue from another repository Apr 10, 2022
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