Looks like we're ready to begin testing! Not bad. We're going to select some emails at random from our collection and give them a good poke.
Getting the Emails
The email collections can be found in your file share here:
/copies
For any given mailbox in an email backup, the plaintext versions of the emails for most slash all of those collections should be located at this path:
/copies/ICU.SPCL.NAME-OF-PERSON/NUMERIC-ID/Data/Working - Copy/maildir/PERSONS-CNETID@uchicago.edu/PERSONS-CNETID@uchicago.edu (Primary)/Top of Information Store/NAME-OF-MAILBOX
Note that the folder is called maildir but the mailbox is not in fact in Maildir format—this is due to an old mistake that Matt made. However, that is where you'll find each email as a separate file, converted from the .pst original.
Getting the Document Ready
I guess it's finally time to be minimally less informal about documentation for the project. Go ahead and create a folder called doc in the root of the Attachment Converter project, and move file-format-conversions.md (which is currently our one and only doc) in there.
Then, create a new document called doc/preliminary_tests1.md. That will be where you write up the results of your testing.
Testing
Based on the executable code from #21, you should be able to test Attachment Converter out on a given email as follows:
$ dune exec -- ./main.exe < PATH-TO-EMAIL
For this issue, please select a sequence of emails at random, from a mix of different collections, and try running the above command on them with the default configuration. See if you can choose a range of emails that cover the different formats we're looking to convert by default. If Attachment Converter gives you reasonable shell output, use to_mbox to make that output into an MBOX and see whether it loads in Apple Mail, looks the way we want it to look, and so forth. More specifically, for each email you look at:
provide the path to the email on the network share
indicate the commit of the executable code you're running, so that once we've modified the executable code later on, we know which version had this behavior
say whether the conversions seem to have produced a valid email with converted attachments appearing where we'd like them to appear
if they have, you can move on to the next email
if not, then choose among our 'deal with a problem' options
Our 'deal with a problem' options are these:
correct the bug leading to the aberrant behavior, add any unit tests that aberrant behavior inspired, and briefly describe all of the above in doc/preliminary_tests1.md
describe the aberrant behavior in doc/preliminary_tests1.md and note that we will plan to address it in a future issue
Roughly, if the bug you've discovered seems like it's going to require some big rewriting/redesign, you can feel free to take the second option. If it seems like it's easily fixed, feel free to take the first option. We'll leave it up to you what you decide is best in each case.
You've done enough testing for this issue once either of these things happens:
you've uncovered 5 emails for which there is at least one problem
you've looked at a total of 20 emails
We might want to adjust those numbers as we go, but it seems like a good starting point for now.
Preliminary Testing: Part 1
Looks like we're ready to begin testing! Not bad. We're going to select some emails at random from our collection and give them a good poke.
Getting the Emails
The email collections can be found in your file share here:
For any given mailbox in an email backup, the plaintext versions of the emails for most slash all of those collections should be located at this path:
Note that the folder is called
maildirbut the mailbox is not in fact in Maildir format—this is due to an old mistake that Matt made. However, that is where you'll find each email as a separate file, converted from the.pstoriginal.Getting the Document Ready
I guess it's finally time to be minimally less informal about documentation for the project. Go ahead and create a folder called
docin the root of the Attachment Converter project, and movefile-format-conversions.md(which is currently our one and only doc) in there.Then, create a new document called
doc/preliminary_tests1.md. That will be where you write up the results of your testing.Testing
Based on the executable code from #21, you should be able to test Attachment Converter out on a given email as follows:
For this issue, please select a sequence of emails at random, from a mix of different collections, and try running the above command on them with the default configuration. See if you can choose a range of emails that cover the different formats we're looking to convert by default. If Attachment Converter gives you reasonable shell output, use
to_mboxto make that output into an MBOX and see whether it loads in Apple Mail, looks the way we want it to look, and so forth. More specifically, for each email you look at:Our 'deal with a problem' options are these:
doc/preliminary_tests1.mddoc/preliminary_tests1.mdand note that we will plan to address it in a future issueRoughly, if the bug you've discovered seems like it's going to require some big rewriting/redesign, you can feel free to take the second option. If it seems like it's easily fixed, feel free to take the first option. We'll leave it up to you what you decide is best in each case.
You've done enough testing for this issue once either of these things happens:
We might want to adjust those numbers as we go, but it seems like a good starting point for now.