Hi,
I've encountered an issue with an API I'm using that depends on a
base64 encoded authentication string. It uses JavaMail's base64
encoding through MimeUtils.java.
When I have the same JavaMail version that is used on the server in my
client's classpath it works fine, but when I use a later version on the
client it seems the base64 encoded data computed on the server doesn't
match the encoded data on the client so the authentication fails.
I'm trying to understand why the encoding algorithm was changed.
The JavaMail version that works is v1.4 (classes' timestamp 2 May 2006)
and any version in GlassFish v2 and higher I tried (JavaMail v1.4.1 and
up) fails.
I suspect the extra newline ("\r\n") that was added to
BASE64EncoderStream#close() is the culprit.
From what I understand of Base64 encoding (RFC2045) adding a newline is
not invalid because decoders must ignore line breaks and characters not
in the Base64 alphabet. But why was the newline added?