Re: [Evolution] POP3 mbox performance and auto-expunging?

[Reid Thompson <Reid Thompson ateb com>]

On Wed, 2008-08-20 at 17:43 -0400, Jeff wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm considering using Evolution for my aunt who let her Thunderbird
> POP3 mailbox corrupt itself again.
>
> It's the second time that her inbox grows over 2 GiB (4.7 GiB this
> time). When that happens, well, the mail client will be slow as
> molasses and return the wrong messages (or nothing at all) when trying
> to open them, indicating a corrupt mailbox index at first glance.
> You'd think that just deleting those Thunderbird index files would fix
> the problem, but no, it deletes the mail.
>
> So, I've had enough, and want to stop screwing around with that mail
> client that can't handle decently all the
> powerpoint-crap-coming-down-the-pipe, and make her use my beloved
> Evolution for the POP3 account. I guess it would be in mbox format,
> since, reading this mailing list, that there doesn't seem to be an
> easy/official way to use maildir(?).
>
> I'd like to ask a few questions regarding Evolution's performance
> under a theoretical worst-case scenario.
>
> Let's imagine that evolution has a 10 GiB mbox file for the inbox
> (worst case scenario). Has any of you experienced corruption or big
> performance problems with situations like that?
>
> Secondly, as I understand from looking at
> http://www.go-evolution.org/FAQ#I_deleted_a_bunch_of_mail_but_my_mailbox_is_just_as_big_as_before._Why.3F
>
> ...it seems to me that 
> - expunge = compressing the mbox file of a folder to make it more
> efficient
> - emptying the trash = compressing all the mbox files.
>
> As I know that there is an option in the preferences to empty the
> trash "on exit", "daily", "weekly" or "monthly", if I activate it, can
> I safely assume that, as long as my aunt puts big/useless mails in the
> trash, they will be completely purged automatically, and that the
> inbox folder size should not grow to unmanageable sizes, therefore
> acting like an "autoexpunge/cleanup" option? I want something that
> requires ZERO interaction here, because said user has the bad habit of
> replying "No" to "do you want to compress the folders" prompts and
> such.
>
> To summarize my questions:
> - will setting the trash to empty itself daily ensure that when the
> user trashes mail, it doesn't sit there for years "waiting to be
> compressed" like in thunderbird?
> - in the event that this does not prevent a huge mailbox (>1 gb),
> would evolution still be able to manage multi-gigabyte mailboxes?
> - has anyone experienced mbox index corruption much?
>
> Of course, I know that I can ask for no guarantee or anything, I just
> wish to hear your stories of reliability so far. If that matters, the
> system uses Evolution 2.22.x on Ubuntu 8.04.1.
>
> I look forward to your insights and experiences. 
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would the following scenario work:
setup the pop3 account ala defaults - this would have all the mail going
into mbox.

Then, create a maildir local account.
Then, create a filter on 'Source Account' ( the previously setup pop3
account ) to move all mail to the maildir account on receipt.  Then you
don't have to worry about managing a 2GB+ file.