diff --git a/TODO b/TODO
index a8086b6a..873d95e5 100644
--- a/TODO
+++ b/TODO
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 ** release 0.9.2 [20%]
 
    - [ ] xml,json,sexp output
+   - [ ] check all strings are really UTF8
+   - [ ] fix size value
    - [ ] separate exit code for 'not found' vs other errors
    - [ ] fix build for Solaris
    - [X] clearer errors when /home/user does not exist
diff --git a/src/mu-msg-iter.cc b/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
index ab3d40ad..0f16cfca 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
+++ b/src/mu-msg-iter.cc
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@ mu_msg_iter_get_field (MuMsgIter *iter, MuMsgFieldId mfid)
 	g_return_val_if_fail (mu_msg_field_id_is_valid(mfid), NULL);
 
 	try {
-		if (!iter->_str[mfid]) { 	/* cache the value */
+		if (!iter->_str[mfid]) { /* cache the value */
 			Xapian::Document doc (iter->_cursor.get_document());
 			iter->_str[mfid] =
 				g_strdup (doc.get_value(mfid).c_str());
@@ -248,6 +248,13 @@ mu_msg_iter_get_maildir (MuMsgIter *iter)
 	return mu_msg_iter_get_field (iter, MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_MAILDIR);
 }
 
+const char*
+mu_msg_iter_get_msgid (MuMsgIter *iter)
+{
+	g_return_val_if_fail (!mu_msg_iter_is_done(iter), NULL);
+	return mu_msg_iter_get_field (iter, MU_MSG_FIELD_ID_MSGID);
+}
+
 
 
 const char*
diff --git a/src/mu-msg-iter.h b/src/mu-msg-iter.h
index fd5a8bd3..ace76f0d 100644
--- a/src/mu-msg-iter.h
+++ b/src/mu-msg-iter.h
@@ -109,8 +109,20 @@ const char*      mu_msg_iter_get_path          (MuMsgIter *iter);
 const char*      mu_msg_iter_get_maildir (MuMsgIter *iter);
 
 
+
 /**
- * get the size of the message
+ * get the msgid of the message
+ *  
+ * @param iter a valid MuMsgIter iterator
+ * 
+ * @return the msgid or NULL in case of error
+ */
+const char*      mu_msg_iter_get_msgid (MuMsgIter *iter);
+
+
+
+/**
+ * get the size of the message in Kb
  * 
  * @param iter a valid MuMsgIter iterator
  * 
diff --git a/src/mu-output.c b/src/mu-output.c
index ef056d92..a09ec2f3 100644
--- a/src/mu-output.c
+++ b/src/mu-output.c
@@ -206,7 +206,6 @@ mu_output_plain (MuMsgIter *iter, const char *fields, size_t summary_len,
 		int len;
 		
 		for (myfields = fields, len = 0; *myfields; ++myfields) {
-
 			MuMsgFieldId mfid;
 			mfid =	mu_msg_field_id_from_shortcut (*myfields, FALSE);
 
@@ -229,15 +228,55 @@ mu_output_plain (MuMsgIter *iter, const char *fields, size_t summary_len,
 	return TRUE;
 }
 
+static void
+print_attr (const char* elm, const char *str)
+{
+	gchar *esc;
+	
+	if (!str || strlen(str) == 0)
+		return; /* empty: don't include */
+
+	esc = mu_str_escape_xml (str);
+	g_print ("\t\t<%s>%s</%s>\n", elm, esc, elm);
+	g_free (esc);
+}
+
+
 
 gboolean
 mu_output_xml (MuMsgIter *iter, size_t *count)
 {
-	g_print ("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" ?>\n");
-	g_print ("%s\n", __FUNCTION__);
-
-	return TRUE;
+	MuMsgIter *myiter;
+	size_t mycount;
 	
+	g_return_val_if_fail (iter, FALSE);
+
+	g_print ("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" ?>\n");
+	g_print ("<messages>\n");
+	
+	for (myiter = iter, mycount = 0; !mu_msg_iter_is_done (myiter);
+	     mu_msg_iter_next (myiter), ++mycount) {
+		g_print ("\t<message>\n");
+		print_attr ("from", mu_msg_iter_get_from (iter));
+		print_attr ("to", mu_msg_iter_get_to (iter));
+		print_attr ("cc", mu_msg_iter_get_cc (iter));
+		print_attr ("subject", mu_msg_iter_get_subject (iter));
+		g_print ("\t\t<date>%u</date>\n",
+			 (unsigned) mu_msg_iter_get_date (iter));
+		g_print ("\t\t<size>%u</size>\n",
+			 (unsigned) mu_msg_iter_get_size (iter));
+		print_attr ("msgid", mu_msg_iter_get_msgid (iter));
+		print_attr ("path", mu_msg_iter_get_path (iter));
+		print_attr ("maildir", mu_msg_iter_get_maildir (iter));
+		g_print ("\t</message>\n");
+	}
+
+	g_print ("</messages>\n");
+		
+	if (count)
+		*count = mycount;
+	
+	return TRUE;
 }
 
 gboolean
diff --git a/src/mu-str.c b/src/mu-str.c
index ba3d0d93..732ab6ed 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.c
+++ b/src/mu-str.c
@@ -368,3 +368,12 @@ mu_str_fullpath_s (const char* path, const char* name)
 	
 	return buf;
 }
+
+char*
+mu_str_escape_xml (const gchar* str)
+{
+	if (!str)
+		return NULL;
+
+	return g_markup_escape_text (str, -1);
+}
diff --git a/src/mu-str.h b/src/mu-str.h
index f63d81d4..9e2ff677 100644
--- a/src/mu-str.h
+++ b/src/mu-str.h
@@ -220,6 +220,17 @@ time_t mu_str_date_parse_hdwmy (const char* str);
  */
 const char* mu_str_fullpath_s (const char* path, const char* name);
 
+
+/** 
+ * escape string for inclusion in XML-data
+ * 
+ * @param str a str or NULL
+ * 
+ * @return the escaped version of the string; g_free when you're done
+ * with it.
+ */
+char* mu_str_escape_xml (const gchar* str);
+
 G_END_DECLS
 
 #endif /*__MU_STR_H__*/