sub get_oldest_file
{
   my $path = shift;  # name of directory to search
   opendir( D, $path ) or return "Unable to read directory $path\n";

   my $oldest_age = 0;
   my $oldest_name = '';

   for ( readdir( D ))
   {
      next unless ( -f "$path/$_");
      my $age = ( -M _ );   # note the "_" : uses stat data loaded by "-f" above
      if ( $age > $oldest_age ) {
         $oldest_name = $_;
         $oldest_age = $age;
      }
   }
   closedir D;
   return $oldest_name;
}

##</code><code>##

sub GetMessage {
	my $filename;
	my $timeout = $q->param('Timeout');

	# default timeout period is 10 seconds
	if ($timeout eq ""){
		$timeout = 10;	
	}		

	$branch = $q->param('Branch');
	my $dir = $baseDir . "\\" . $branch . "\\";

	# first check to see if the directory exists
	if(! -e $dir){
		&error("Requested branch at " . $dir .  " does not exist");
	}		
	chdir($dir) ;

	eval {
		local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "alarm\n" }; 
		alarm $timeout;
		# This process may take a while. If it does not complete within $timeout seconds
		# it will be stopped.
		$filename=get_oldest_file(".");
		alarm 0;
	};

	if ($@ eq "alarm\n") {
		# TIMED OUT - Was unable to calculate the oldest file in the given 
		# timeout period. Return not found
		print $q->header('text/html','404 Not Found - operation timed out');	
		exit (0);
    }
	else {
    	# Found the oldest file ok. Continue processing.
    	my $size;
    	$size = -s $filename || error("Unable to check file size " . $dir . $filename . " : " . $!);
    	my $messageID = $filename;
    	print $q->header(-Type=>'application/octet-stream',
    					 -Message_ID=>$messageID,
    					 -Content_Length=>$size);
		open(MSG,"< $filename") || error("Unable to open file " . $dir . $filename . " for read: " . $!);
  		binmode MSG;
		while(<MSG>)  {
    		print $_;
    	}
    	close MSG;
    }  
}