Issue processing MailDir format with Java on Windows

Question

This is really two questions, but they are very closely related.

I am developing a Java application that will process emails stored in the UNIX style MailDir format. I am using the JavaMail API, and found JavaMailDir that should work as a provider capable of reading the format my email will be in.

The issue I am running into is that JavaMailDir seems to always expect your mail folder (the one passed into store.getFolder()) to begin with a dot. I only have access to a Windows machine for my development and initial testing. So, to test I copied some sample emails and the folder structure from a Linux system. When I try to read messages I get an exception because the file cannot be read. I can see through the API calls that messages so exist in the folders. It seems having the dot as the first character of a folder name seems to break opening the files on Windows.

My question would be is there any work around to get this working on Windows, or perhaps another provider that would provide the same capability and perhaps work better on Windows?

Answer 1

So, it seems like there is no really good work around to use JavaMailDir while doing my development on Windows. Ultimately I was able to build a version of Plexus Maildir that I saw referenced in another post. This will at least allow me to do development on a Windows machine until I move to testing in a real Linux environment.

Answer 2

Why not just set up Linux as a dual boot OS on your windows machine?

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

Truly understanding and double checking everything might total a day's work to get everything set up and working on your machine.