Re: mbox vs. Maildir (was: Re: [Evolution] expunge speed)

[Ricardo Amadeo Contreras <aztlan2k yahoo com>]

On 20 Aug 2001 19:13:27 +0200, Alexander Skwar wrote:
> Exactly!  That's the reason I like mbox better.  I've just converted a
> mbox with >5000 messages to maildir to do some comparison.
>
> ...
>
> Now, also deleting messages from the middle of a mbox isn't as bad as
> everyone wants to make you believe.  I then deleted the message which
> was about in the middle of the file.  This only took 3 seconds.

Interesting but I think you would need to do some other tests before you
could really get a feel for performance.  I'm not suggesting that you go
out and do an exhaustive test, but it might be nice to look at a few
more cases.  For example, you only deleted (i gather from your post) a
single message in each of your test cases.  What would happen if you
deleted many messages scattered throughout and then 'expunged'. (If you
have a >5000 message mbox, say deleting 10%... or about 50 messages
scattered throughout the mbox file.)  how would this compare against
maildir (or mh)?

And of course you're using a different mua, which may not handle message
deletion in the same way as evolution/camel.  (I don't know mutt so I
not in a position to point out the differences)  Evolution seems to mark
messages for deletion from a folder and then do them all at once when
you select Action->Expunge (or Empty Trash).  Does mutt do each deletion
at the time you mark a message for deletion or does it work similarly to
Evolution's method?

I usually read all of my mail messages and mark everything I don't want
to keep for deletion... by the time I actually expunge (empty trash)
there are probably 30-50 messages, maybe more, marked for deletion.

Personally, I still can't see evidence for choosing one format over the
other.  It appears that there are benefits and drawbacks to each format.
I guess it depends on what the situation calls for.  I still am curious
as to why mbox was chosen as the default.  (historical?  most widely
used?  actual benefits?)

Thanx for the stats... 


Ricardo




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