NullPointerException in MimeMessage copy constructor

Question

It looks like the copy constructor for MimeMessage does not protect against a null flags and as such throws a NullPointerException.
I'm sure that this boils down to or is triggered by an IMAP server that is in some way not compliant to the IMAP spec.
I'm wondering if there is a workaround to this that anyone could recommend or if a fix to this is in the works.
In MimeMessage.getFlags(), it should check to see if flags == null before cloning. If not, it should return a new Flags() would be my guess.
I saw a discussion in another forum that mentions wrapping MimeMessage and implementing getFlags, however there's no way for my wrapper class to identify whether or not MimeMessages flags are null or not to compensate.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Yes, your IMAP server is broken. What server (what vendor) is it?
And yes, JavaMail should better protect against such broken servers.
I'll fix that for JavaMail 1.4.2.
In the mean time, something like this should work when you're copying a message:
public class MyMimeMessage extends MimeMessage {
    public MyMimeMessage(MimeMessage source) {
        super(source);
        if (flags == null)
            flags = new Flags();
}