Re: Slow startup with remote IMAP folder

[Peter Bloomfield <PeterBloomfield MindSpring com>]

On 2001.10.25 08:42 Toralf Lund wrote:
> I just added another IMAP folder set to my mailbox list. This time 
> the server must be contacted over our somewhat slow link to the 
> outside world. As a result, the startup time increased significantly. 
> Would it be possible to:
> 
> 1) Scan folders in a separate thread.
> - or -
> 2) Don't contact the server until I actually try to access one of its 
> mailboxes and/or expand the UI's associated tree entry? (Which I 
> don't do very often for this particular server.)
> 
>-- 
> Toralf Lund <toralf@kscanners.com>  +47 66 85 51 22
> Kongsberg Scanners AS               +47 66 85 51 00 (switchboard)
> http://www.kscanners.no/~toralf     +47 66 85 51 01 (fax)

I've been frustrated by the same problem.  Scanning in a separate 
thread is presumably problematic because of locking mutt.  I've 
experimented both with delayed/partial scanning and with speeding up 
scanning by issuing multiple LIST/LSUB commands.  With high network 
latency but decent throughput, the latter has given me up to three 
times faster loading.  The former of course is very fast, but not 
entirely satisfactory: you can drag a message to a mailbox only if it's 
been found, etc.

Patches against old code are both around.  If you're interested in 
trying either one, I can bring it up to date and post a new patch 
somewhere.

Peter