[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: [OT] maildir (was Re: procmail and Large File Support)



Am 2005-02-27 18:19:45, schrieb sean finney:
> can't help but chime in here :)

> On Mon, Feb 28, 2005 at 09:22:30AM +1100, Brian May wrote:
> > Not every situation warrants using maildir, it uses a large number of
> > inodes, is slow to scan (yes, mbox isn't very good either),

Mailbox is MUCH slower as Maildir, because it must be scaned entierly,
but with maildir, most you can spead up the searches while scaning
only the Headers.

> > inefficient at storing large number of very small files (due to block
> > size limitations of file system), and more complicated to
> > transfer/move/share.

What is complicate ?
You need only the right programs...

> it does use a large number of inodes, but i've found that even on large
> filesystems with many users, there's not a real risk of starving the fs
> of inodes.  ymmv.  i'm not sure about the transferring/moving/sharing though.
> 
> figuring the average email is about 13-15k, i believe an ext2/ext3
> filesystem created with default options would fill up before running
> out of inodes.

I have striped the Messages by "Received: " Headers and the most
Messages are under 4 kByte now. I have a Mailarchive from around
130 Mailinglists with 5,3 Million Messages and my ext3 Filesystem
has up to 18.000.000 Inodes and a blocksize of 1 kByte.

I had never problems with it. 

Also I have only one Mailfolder per Mailinglist (<linux-kernel>
has for example more then 190.000 Messges in it.) 

> > Of course, all of these factors depend on the file system used. I am
> > confident somebody could point out a file-system that eliminates many
> > of these disadvantages.
> 
> recent versions of kernel/ext2/ext3 have built-in dirent hashing, which
> cuts heavily on the many-files penalty.  another benefit of maildir
> is that when you modify a single message, you only need to modify the
> individual file, as opposed to the entire mailbox.  in some of the
> sloppier imap servers (*cough* uw-imap *cough* *cough*), this can cause
> huge, grind-your-server-to-a-halt performance hits as deleting, or
> merely reading a new message necessates a huge amount of i/o.

Right. I use courier and it works perfectly with Maildir...
No blocking or high load, even if I open m< <linux-kernel> Mailbox

> 	sean

Greetings
Michelle

-- 
Linux-User #280138 with the Linux Counter, http://counter.li.org/ 
Michelle Konzack   Apt. 917                  ICQ #328449886
                   50, rue de Soultz         MSM LinuxMichi
0033/3/88452356    67100 Strasbourg/France   IRC #Debian (irc.icq.com)

Attachment: signature.pgp
Description: Digital signature


Reply to: