Base64 encoded emails unreadable

RT Users
1

The entire content of emails, not just attachments, from BlackBerry devices
appears to be Base64 encoded. The issue that we’re having is that RT-3.6.3
is unable to detect that the message is encoded – even though the
"Content-Transfer-Encoding header" is set to “base64” – and therefore any
message from a BlackBerry is unreadable.

I’m fairly certain that someone else has seen this problem and fixed it; I’m
hoping someone can give a recommendation to help with this. I am running
RT-3.6.3 on a RHEL4u5 x64 server with perl-5.8.5 using the
perl-5.8.5-36.RHEL4 RPM.

–phess

2

I believe that this works in more recent RTs.
Can you try sending a test message from a blackberry to rt-bugs@bestpractical.com, cced to me?

Best,
JesseOn Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 10:52:56AM -0800, Patrick Hess wrote:

The entire content of emails, not just attachments, from BlackBerry devices
appears to be Base64 encoded. The issue that we’re having is that RT-3.6.3
is unable to detect that the message is encoded – even though the
“Content-Transfer-Encoding header” is set to “base64” – and therefore any
message from a BlackBerry is unreadable.

I’m fairly certain that someone else has seen this problem and fixed it; I’m
hoping someone can give a recommendation to help with this. I am running
RT-3.6.3 on a RHEL4u5 x64 server with perl-5.8.5 using the
perl-5.8.5-36.RHEL4 RPM.

–phess

3

Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a blackberry.

However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning:

–phessFrom: Jesse Vincent [mailto:jesse@bestpractical.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 10:55 AM
To: Patrick Hess
Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com
Subject: Re: [rt-users] Base64 encoded emails unreadable

I believe that this works in more recent RTs.
Can you try sending a test message from a blackberry to
rt-bugs@bestpractical.com, cced to me?

Best,
Jesse

The entire content of emails, not just attachments, from BlackBerry
devices
appears to be Base64 encoded. The issue that we’re having is that
RT-3.6.3
is unable to detect that the message is encoded – even though the
“Content-Transfer-Encoding header” is set to “base64” – and therefore any
message from a BlackBerry is unreadable.

I’m fairly certain that someone else has seen this problem and fixed it;
I’m
hoping someone can give a recommendation to help with this. I am running
RT-3.6.3 on a RHEL4u5 x64 server with perl-5.8.5 using the
perl-5.8.5-36.RHEL4 RPM.

–phess

4

Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a blackberry.

However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning:

Understood. Unfortunately, helping with bugs in older versions that we’ve
already fixed in current versions is something we can only really do in
the context of a support contract. (But let’s make sure that’s the case first)

Best,
Jesse

5

This one is from my BlackBerry

–phess-----Original Message-----
From: Jesse Vincent jesse@bestpractical.com
Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:19:50
To: Patrick Hessphess@cataphora.com
Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com
Subject: Re: [rt-users] Base64 encoded emails unreadable

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:15:52AM -0800, Patrick Hess wrote:

Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a blackberry.

However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning:

Understood. Unfortunately, helping with bugs in older versions that we’ve
already fixed in current versions is something we can only really do in
the context of a support contract. (But let’s make sure that’s the case first)

Best,
Jesse

6

When you say “current versions” are you referring to 3.6.10 or 3.8.x?

–phess-----Original Message-----
From: Jesse Vincent [mailto:jesse@bestpractical.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 11:20 AM
To: Patrick Hess
Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com
Subject: Re: [rt-users] Base64 encoded emails unreadable

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:15:52AM -0800, Patrick Hess wrote:

Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a blackberry.

However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning:

Understood. Unfortunately, helping with bugs in older versions that we’ve
already fixed in current versions is something we can only really do in
the context of a support contract. (But let’s make sure that’s the case
first)

Best,
Jesse

7

3.8.8 or so.Patrick Hess phess@cataphora.com wrote:

When you say “current versions” are you referring to 3.6.10 or 3.8.x? --phess -----Original Message----- From: Jesse Vincent [mailto:jesse@bestpractical.com] Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 11:20 AM To: Patrick Hess Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com Subject: Re: [rt-users] Base64 encoded emails unreadable On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 11:15:52AM -0800, Patrick Hess wrote: > Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a blackberry. > > However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning: > Understood. Unfortunately, helping with bugs in older versions that we’ve already fixed in current versions is something we can only really do in the context of a support contract. (But let’s make sure that’s the case first) Best, Jesse

8

Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a blackberry.

However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning:

As a heads up, I didn’t see any of the messages you sent as coming
throught with a base64 content-transfer-encoding.

Best,
Jesse

9

I know that when I reply to RT tickets from a BlackBerry it sends with the
header set. I also know that my replies, in RT-3.6.3, look identical to the
other BlackBerry users (the ASCII characters of base64 encoded). If you’d
like, I’ll create a test ticket in my system and divert an email so you can
see.

–phessFrom: Jesse Vincent [mailto:jesse@bestpractical.com]
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2011 6:40 AM
To: Patrick Hess
Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com
Subject: Re: [rt-users] Base64 encoded emails unreadable

Thanks for replying, Jesse. I can and will send a test from a
blackberry.

However, upgrading my version of RT is not practical. :frowning:

As a heads up, I didn’t see any of the messages you sent as coming
throught with a base64 content-transfer-encoding.

Best,
Jesse

Understood. Unfortunately, helping with bugs in older versions that we’ve
already fixed in current versions is something we can only really do in
the context of a support contract. (But let’s make sure that’s the case
first)

Best,
Jesse

10

I installed RT-3.8.8 and am still seeing the same problem. I am using the
RHEL4 sendmail-8.13.1-3.2.el4 RPM on an RHEL4 server. When I installed
RT-3.8.8 I opted not to update the smrsh (rt-mailgate) from the 3.6.3
version that is currently running because there are two RT-3.6.3 running in
Production mode on this server.

Is it possible that the problem lies partially, or wholly, in the mailgate
application?

–phessFrom: Jesse Vincent [mailto:jesse@bestpractical.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 10:55 AM
To: Patrick Hess
Cc: rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com
Subject: Re: [rt-users] Base64 encoded emails unreadable

I believe that this works in more recent RTs.
Can you try sending a test message from a blackberry to
rt-bugs@bestpractical.com, cced to me?

Best,
Jesse

The entire content of emails, not just attachments, from BlackBerry
devices
appears to be Base64 encoded. The issue that we’re having is that
RT-3.6.3
is unable to detect that the message is encoded – even though the
“Content-Transfer-Encoding header” is set to “base64” – and therefore any
message from a BlackBerry is unreadable.

I’m fairly certain that someone else has seen this problem and fixed it;
I’m
hoping someone can give a recommendation to help with this. I am running
RT-3.6.3 on a RHEL4u5 x64 server with perl-5.8.5 using the
perl-5.8.5-36.RHEL4 RPM.

–phess

11

Final update: this issue is fixed. At the site in question, the
procmail-related “formail” application is being used to remail messages to
RT. During the remailing process, “formail” was stripping off the
“Content-Transfer-Encoding” and “Content-Type” headers from the incoming
message before remailing to RT.

Now that “formail” is configured to no longer strip those important headers,
RT is correctly able to discern that the message is Base64 encoded used and
RT-3.6.3 is correctly decoding the message.

–phess-----Original Message-----
From: Patrick Hess [mailto:phess@cataphora.com]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2011 10:53 AM
To: ‘rt-users@lists.bestpractical.com’
Subject: Base64 encoded emails unreadable

The entire content of emails, not just attachments, from BlackBerry devices
appears to be Base64 encoded. The issue that we’re having is that RT-3.6.3
is unable to detect that the message is encoded – even though the
“Content-Transfer-Encoding header” is set to “base64” – and therefore any
message from a BlackBerry is unreadable.

I’m fairly certain that someone else has seen this problem and fixed it; I’m
hoping someone can give a recommendation to help with this. I am running
RT-3.6.3 on a RHEL4u5 x64 server with perl-5.8.5 using the
perl-5.8.5-36.RHEL4 RPM.

–phess