README

FTN/FidoNet .MSG message-base reader for PHP 8.4.

This package reads classic .MSG message directories and returns normalized ParsedMessage objects from golded-dev/laravel-ftn.

It does not read Squish, JAM, Hudson, or packet files. It does not add Laravel service providers, config files, models, commands, queues, or framework bootstrapping. The package name says Laravel because it belongs to the GoldED.dev Laravel package family. The runtime code is plain PHP.

Installation

composer require golded-dev/laravel-ftn-msg:^1.0

Requires PHP 8.4+.

Reading A Message Area

<?php

declare(strict_types=1);

use Golded\Ftn\Msg\MsgReader;

$reader = new MsgReader();

foreach ($reader->read('/path/to/messages/MSG/THE_SAFE') as $message) {
    echo $message->msgno.PHP_EOL;
    echo $message->fromName.' -> '.$message->toName.PHP_EOL;
    echo $message->subject.PHP_EOL;
    echo $message->bodyText.PHP_EOL;
}

MsgReader::read() accepts a directory path and reads files ending in .msg or .MSG.

Files are sorted naturally by filename. Non-numeric filenames and message numbers below 1 are skipped.

Reader Options

use Golded\Ftn\Msg\MsgReader;
use Golded\Ftn\ReaderOptions;

$messages = new MsgReader()->read(
    path: '/path/to/messages/MSG/NETMAIL',
    options: new ReaderOptions(fallbackCharset: 'CP437'),
);

The fallback charset is used when the message body does not declare a usable FTN charset control line. The default comes from golded-dev/laravel-ftn.

What Gets Parsed

The reader extracts:

• message number from the .MSG filename
• from name
• to name
• subject
• body text converted to UTF-8
• raw attribute bitfield
• posted date when the header date can be parsed
• external ID from MSGID when present

When a message has no MSGID, the reader creates a stable synthetic ID from the parsed message fields. Old message bases are rarely polite. This keeps downstream imports sane anyway.

What You Do Not Get

• No area discovery.
• No packet parsing.
• No Squish, JAM, Hudson, or other message-base readers.
• No Laravel service provider.
• No database models.
• No queues, commands, config publishing, or framework bootstrapping.

Pair this package with your own source locator or import pipeline.

Development

Install dependencies:

composer install

Run tests:

composer test

Run static analysis:

composer test:types

Run Rector dry-run:

composer test:refactor

Run everything:

composer test:all

Versioning

This package starts at 1.0.0 and uses semantic versioning.

Breaking changes include:

• changing MsgReader::read() behavior in a way that drops messages previously yielded
• changing parsed field semantics
• changing charset fallback behavior
• changing the required PHP version
• changing the golded-dev/laravel-ftn public contract this reader returns

Adding support for more .MSG header fields is usually a minor release when existing fields keep their meaning.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome when they make .MSG parsing more correct without turning this into a framework package. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Security

Do not report security issues in public tickets. See SECURITY.md.

Code Of Conduct

Be direct, useful, and not a pain on purpose. See CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md.

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

License

Released under the MIT License. See LICENSE.