Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 05:59:45 -0800
From: wje(_at_)netcom(_dot_)com (add "rabbit" to Subject: line to override
spamgard{tm})
Subject: Re: mdate - a tool for processing mail Date: fields
I heard (but this could be wrong) that parsing time zones is perilous
at best and that, for example, there are several times zones which
call themselves EST.
This is probably true, however most mailers use the syntax as shown
below, where an offset from GMT is part of the message:
> Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 05:59:45 -0800
in this case, the time/date is adjusted, without referring to the time
zone field. The time zone is used only if an explicit time offset is not given.
It may be that using the date field isn't completely air tight. However,
it is useful, for example when splitting a mail box into individual
messages, each message file can be time stamped with a time/date
approximating the time the message was sent. This is useful when
indexing message files, using glimpse for example, which can
answer queries such as: "find all files posted withn the last 5 days."