Re: Message-ID as unique key?

> I am futzing around with Andrew Stuarts "Catchmail" program
> that stores emails into a postgresql database.
>
> I want to avoid inserting the same email more than once...
> (pieces of the email actually get emplaced into several
> tables).
>
> Is the "Message-ID" header field a globally unique identifer?

I think you're looking for RFC 2822 (http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2822.html). I seem to recall that one of the rfc's listed a time limit of two years for uniqueness, though I'm at a loss to find which one at the moment.

Pertinent sections:

3.6.4. Identification fields

Though optional, every message SHOULD have a "Message-ID:" field.

<snip>

The message identifier (msg-id) itself MUST be a globally unique
identifier for a message. The generator of the message identifier
MUST guarantee that the msg-id is unique. There are several
algorithms that can be used to accomplish this. Since the msg-id has
a similar syntax to angle-addr (identical except that comments and
folding white space are not allowed), a good method is to put the
domain name (or a domain literal IP address) of the host on which the
message identifier was created on the right hand side of the "@", and
put a combination of the current absolute date and time along with
some other currently unique (perhaps sequential) identifier available
on the system (for example, a process id number) on the left hand
side. Using a date on the left hand side and a domain name or domain
literal on the right hand side makes it possible to guarantee
uniqueness since no two hosts use the same domain name or IP address
at the same time. Though other algorithms will work, it is
RECOMMENDED that the right hand side contain some domain identifier
(either of the host itself or otherwise) such that the generator of
the message identifier can guarantee the uniqueness of the left hand
side within the scope of that domain.

Regards,

Bruce Ritchie