diff --git a/addons/mail/mail_message.py b/addons/mail/mail_message.py
index 07d0aabe7cd..d37c43bc1ff 100644
--- a/addons/mail/mail_message.py
+++ b/addons/mail/mail_message.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ import logging
 import re
 import time
 from email.header import decode_header
+from email.message import Message
 
 import tools
 from osv import osv
@@ -87,7 +88,6 @@ class mail_message_common(osv.osv_memory):
                                                              "select plaintext or rich text contents accordingly", readonly=1),
         'body_text': fields.text('Text contents', help="Plain-text version of the message"),
         'body_html': fields.text('Rich-text contents', help="Rich-text/HTML version of the message"),
-        'original': fields.text('Original', help="Original version of the message, as it was sent on the network", readonly=1),
     }
 
     _defaults = {
@@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ class mail_message(osv.osv):
                         ('cancel', 'Cancelled'),
                         ], 'State', readonly=True),
         'auto_delete': fields.boolean('Auto Delete', help="Permanently delete this email after sending it"),
+        'original': fields.binary('Original', help="Original version of the message, as it was sent on the network", readonly=1),
     }
 
     _defaults = {
@@ -307,13 +308,16 @@ class mail_message(osv.osv):
             _logger.exception("Failed processing mail queue")
         return res
 
-    def parse_message(self, message):
+    def parse_message(self, message, save_original=False):
         """Parses a string or email.message.Message representing an
            RFC-2822 email, and returns a generic dict holding the
            message details.
 
            :param message: the message to parse
            :type message: email.message.Message | string | unicode
+           :param bool save_original: whether the returned dict
+               should include an ``original`` entry with the base64
+               encoded source of the message.
            :rtype: dict
            :return: A dict with the following structure, where each
                     field may not be present if missing in original
@@ -349,8 +353,11 @@ class mail_message(osv.osv):
         message_id = msg_txt.get('message-id', False)
         msg = {}
 
-        # save original, we need to be able to read the original email sometimes
-        msg['original'] = message
+        if save_original:
+            # save original, we need to be able to read the original email sometimes
+            msg['original'] = message.as_string() if isinstance(message, Message) \
+                                                  else message
+            msg['original'] = base64.b64encode(msg['original']) # binary fields are b64
 
         if not message_id:
             # Very unusual situation, be we should be fault-tolerant here
@@ -487,8 +494,7 @@ class mail_message(osv.osv):
                                                 mail_server_id=message.mail_server_id.id,
                                                 context=context)
                 if res:
-                    message.write({'state':'sent', 'message_id': res,
-                                   'original': msg.as_string(message.email_from)})
+                    message.write({'state':'sent', 'message_id': res})
                 else:
                     message.write({'state':'exception'})
 
diff --git a/addons/mail/mail_message_view.xml b/addons/mail/mail_message_view.xml
index c3ceb0740fa..83e7474fe1a 100644
--- a/addons/mail/mail_message_view.xml
+++ b/addons/mail/mail_message_view.xml
@@ -36,12 +36,12 @@
                             </group>
 
                             <notebook colspan="4">
-                                <page string="Body (Plain)" attrs="{'invisible':[('subtype','=','html')]}">
-                                    <field name="body_text" colspan="4" widget="text" nolabel="1"/>
-                                </page>
                                 <page string="Body (Rich)" attrs="{'invisible':[('subtype','=','plain')]}">
                                     <field name="body_html" widget="text_html" nolabel="1" colspan="4"/>
                                 </page>
+                                <page string="Body (Plain)">
+                                    <field name="body_text" colspan="4" widget="text" nolabel="1"/>
+                                </page>
                             </notebook>
 
                             <separator string="" colspan="4"/>
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@
                                 <field name="subtype" attrs="{'invisible':[('subtype', '=', False)]}"/>
                                 <field name="auto_delete"/>
                                 <field name="headers" colspan="4" attrs="{'invisible':[('headers', '=', False)]}"/>
-                                <field name="original" colspan="4" height="350" attrs="{'invisible':[('original', '=', False)]}"/>
+                                <field name="original" colspan="4" attrs="{'invisible':[('original', '=', False)]}"/>
                             </group>
                         </page>
                     </notebook>
diff --git a/addons/mail/mail_thread.py b/addons/mail/mail_thread.py
index fa613cb219e..6ec9b0247aa 100644
--- a/addons/mail/mail_thread.py
+++ b/addons/mail/mail_thread.py
@@ -153,10 +153,14 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
            containing all the details passed as parameters.  All attachments
            will be attached to the thread record as well as to the actual
            message.
+           If only the ``threads`` and ``subject`` parameters are provided,
+           a *event log* message is created, without the usual envelope
+           attributes (sender, recipients, etc.). 
 
         :param threads: list of thread ids, or list of browse_records representing
                         threads to which a new message should be attached
-        :param subject: Thread action keyword e.g.: If thread is closed "Close" keyword is used
+        :param subject: subject of the message, or description of the event if this
+                        is an *event log* entry.
         :param email_to: Email-To / Recipient address
         :param email_from: Email From / Sender address if any
         :param email_cc: Comma-Separated list of Carbon Copy Emails To addresse if any
@@ -291,7 +295,8 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
                             context = context)
 
 
-    def message_process(self, cr, uid, model, message, custom_values=None, context=None):
+    def message_process(self, cr, uid, model, message, custom_values=None,
+                        save_original=False, context=None):
         """Process an incoming RFC2822 email message related to the
            given thread model, relying on ``mail.message.parse()``
            for the parsing operation, and then calling ``message_new``
@@ -307,6 +312,8 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
                                     to pass to ``message_new`` if a new
                                     record needs to be created. Ignored
                                     if the thread record already exists.
+           :param bool save_original: whether to keep a copy of the original
+               email source attached to the message after it is imported.
         """
         # extract message bytes - we are forced to pass the message as binary because
         # we don't know its encoding until we parse its headers and hence can't
@@ -328,7 +335,7 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
         if isinstance(message, unicode):
             message = message.encode('utf-8')
         msg_txt = email.message_from_string(message)
-        msg = mail_message.parse_message(msg_txt)
+        msg = mail_message.parse_message(msg_txt, save_original=save_original)
 
         # Create New Record into particular model
         def create_record(msg):
@@ -357,6 +364,9 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
                     if model_pool.exists(cr, uid, res_id):
                         if hasattr(model_pool, 'message_update'):
                             model_pool.message_update(cr, uid, [res_id], msg, {}, context=context)
+                    else:
+                        # referenced thread was not found, we'll have to create a new one
+                        res_id = False
         if not res_id:
             res_id = create_record(msg)
         #To forward the email to other followers
@@ -386,8 +396,8 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
                 followers = model_pool.message_thread_followers(cr, uid, [res.id])[res.id]
             else:
                 followers = self.message_thread_followers(cr, uid, [res.id])[res.id]
-            message_followers_emails = mail_message.to_email(','.join(filter(None, followers)))
-            message_recipients = mail_message.to_email(','.join(filter(None,
+            message_followers_emails = to_email(','.join(filter(None, followers)))
+            message_recipients = to_email(','.join(filter(None,
                                                                        [decode(msg['from']),
                                                                         decode(msg['to']),
                                                                         decode(msg['cc'])])))
@@ -398,7 +408,7 @@ class mail_thread(osv.osv):
                     del msg['reply-to']
                     msg['reply-to'] = res.section_id.reply_to
 
-                smtp_from = mail_message.to_email(msg['from'])
+                smtp_from = to_email(msg['from'])
                 msg['from'] = smtp_from
                 msg['to'] =  forward_to
                 msg['message-id'] = tools.generate_tracking_message_id(res.id)
diff --git a/addons/mail/scripts/openerp_mailgate/openerp_mailgate.py b/addons/mail/scripts/openerp_mailgate/openerp_mailgate.py
index b75c92d8d34..7e6ba87945f 100755
--- a/addons/mail/scripts/openerp_mailgate/openerp_mailgate.py
+++ b/addons/mail/scripts/openerp_mailgate/openerp_mailgate.py
@@ -46,13 +46,14 @@ class DefaultConfig(object):
     OPENERP_PORT = 8069
     OPENERP_DEFAULT_DATABASE = 'openerp'
     MAIL_ERROR = 'error@example.com'
-    MAIL_SERVER = 'localhost'
-    MAIL_ADMINS = ('admin@example.com',)
+    MAIL_SERVER = 'smtp.example.com'
+    MAIL_SERVER_PORT = 25
+    MAIL_ADMINS = ('info@example.com',)
 
 config = DefaultConfig()
 
 
-def send_mail(_from_, to_, subject, text, files=None, server=config.MAIL_SERVER):
+def send_mail(_from_, to_, subject, text, files=None, server=config.MAIL_SERVER, port=config.MAIL_SERVER_PORT):
     assert isinstance(to_, (list, tuple))
 
     if files is None:
@@ -74,7 +75,7 @@ def send_mail(_from_, to_, subject, text, files=None, server=config.MAIL_SERVER)
                        % file_name)
         msg.attach(part)
 
-    smtp = smtplib.SMTP(server)
+    smtp = smtplib.SMTP(server, port=port)
     smtp.sendmail(_from_, to_, msg.as_string() )
     smtp.close()
 
@@ -104,16 +105,15 @@ class EmailParser(object):
         self.email_default = email_default
 
 
-    def parse(self, message, custom_values=None):
-        if custom_values is None:
-            custom_values = {}
+    def parse(self, message, custom_values=None, save_original=None):
         # pass message as bytes because we don't know its encoding until we parse its headers
         # and hence can't convert it to utf-8 for transport
         res_id = self.rpc('mail.thread',
                           'message_process',
                           self.model,
                           xmlrpclib.Binary(message),
-                          custom_values)
+                          custom_values or {},
+                          save_original or False)
 
 def configure_parser():
     parser = optparse.OptionParser(usage='usage: %prog [options]', version='%prog v1.1')
@@ -145,6 +145,10 @@ def configure_parser():
     parser.add_option("--custom-values", dest="custom_values",
                       help="Add Custom Values to the object",
                       default=None)
+    parser.add_option("-s", dest="save_original",
+                      action="store_true",
+                      help="Attach a copy of original email to the message entry",
+                      default=False)
 
     return parser
 
@@ -169,12 +173,14 @@ def main():
 
     custom_values = {}
     try:
+        print "custom vals: %s" % options.custom_values
         custom_values = dict(eval(options.custom_values or {} ))
     except:
-        pass
+        import traceback
+        traceback.print_exc()
 
     try:
-        email_parser.parse(msg_txt, custom_values)
+        email_parser.parse(msg_txt, custom_values, options.save_original or False)
     except Exception:
         msg = '\n'.join([
             'parameters',
@@ -191,6 +197,7 @@ def main():
             config.MAIL_ADMINS,
             subject, msg, files=[('message.txt', msg_txt)]
         )
+        sys.stderr.write("Failed to deliver email to OpenERP Server, sending error notification to %s\n" % config.MAIL_ADMINS)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()