Re: [Evolution] Evolution maximum email file size

[Internaut at Large <dkap mailhost haven org>]

Greetings,

On Sun, 2008-06-22 at 10:35 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> On Sun, 2008-06-22 at 04:21 -0400, Internaut at Large wrote:
> > Greetings,
> >
> > On Sat, 2008-06-21 at 21:13 -0430, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > > On Sat, 2008-06-21 at 18:43 -0400, Internaut at Large wrote:
> > > > Greetings,
> > > >
> > > > On Sat, 2008-06-21 at 11:39 -0400, Damon Allen wrote:
> > > > > In Windows, Outlook is limited to a maximum of 2 GB for email storage 
> > > > > before problems start occurring.  This is due to a preemptive limit in 
> > > > > Outlook based on a Windows problem with dealing with large files.  My 
> > > > > first question is in Linux is there a problem with large files which 
> > > > > would cause the OS to become unstable?  Secondly does Evolution have a 
> > > > > limit of email file size based on this OS limit?
> > > >
> > > > Interestingly enough, I just ran into this problem.  Not on the
> > > > Evolution side of things, but on the IMAP side of things.  Apparently my
> > > > linux server that serves my imap won't handle a mail file that is in
> > > > excess of, approximately 200 gig. (a little over 30,000 mail messages,
> > > > some with lots of attachments) when on that system, trying to open the
> > > > file gives me the error message "cannot handle a file that large of that
> > > > type" with anything.  So I basically poured it through formail and
> > > > procmail to filter it to smaller boxes, so it can handle it.
> > > >
> > > > Unfortunately, evolution doesn't deal with MH or maildir files very
> > > > well, so that wasn't really an option, it had to be a large spool file.
> > >
> > > I don't understand. What has Evo got to do with the file format on the
> > > IMAP server?
> >
> > Because, the version of evolution I'm running (2.10.3, on FC-7) does not
> > actually remove things from the IMAP server that is completely capable
> > of MH and Maildir styles of serving, and it was frustrating to use evo
> > to mark them as deleted, and then have to go in with mutt, local on the
> > machine, just to expunge them, when they stacked up too much.  I
> > complained (and filed a bug) about this several years ago, when I first
> > noticed it (no, I don't remember when) but I just live with it, amongst
> > the other quirks of Evolution.
>
> Sorry, I still don't get it. Evo marks messages as deleted and later (on
> the user's command) sends an Expunge command, which the IMAP server
> executes.

Theoretically.  And that works for the normal files on my system, (the
mail spool files) without a problem.

>  Are you saying a) Evo *doesn't* send the Expunge,
>  or b) that
> the server doesn't execute it? 

I suspect the former, because, from mutt (remotely or locally, I still
connect to it via IMAP, mutt us just really slow across the network with
big file lists) when the expunge is requested, it just works.

> It's hard to believe (a) since I've been
> using Evo since version 1 and have never seen this happen under any
> circumstance.

Sorry, I posted it a while back, (when I migrated from 1.0.4 to 2.
something) I've been using Evolution since some of my friends at Ximian
asked me to test it for them.

>  If it is happening it would be a serious bug.

A livable one, and apparently, when we migrated to 2. something we got
rid of much of the direct MH and Maildir support, and only relegated it
to a local mail store.

>  If it's (b)
> then obviously there's something wrong with the server, but that has
> nothing to do with Evo.

True, although, in this case since Mutt works, I don't think it's the
server.

>  Evo has no direct access to the server's mail
> file and only interacts with the server through IMAP commands, which are
> completely agnostic regarding file formats.

Not ... apparently, entirely, obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have this
problem.

>  You say you can expunge
> using mutt on the server. Is this mutt using the mail file as a local
> folder, or is it connecting (locally) to the mail server? 

Nope, over IMAP (well IMAPs to be precise)

> Can you do it
> via mutt from your client machine?

I can, it's just really slow.  Mutt has problems as well, which is why
it's not my mailer of choice, like evolution is.

>  If not (which I suspect is the
> answer) then there is clearly a configuration problem with the server.

Nope, wrong guess, sorry.

> Perhaps to do with file permissions, I don't know. Or maybe there's
> isn't enough /tmp space to copy a 200GB mail file in order to execute
> the expunge.

Well ... that's what the MH/Maildir setup is supposed to avoid, right?
In this case, it dealt with just under a 200GB file without a problem,
and the _server_ choked when it went above that, which was the essence
of my original response to the person asking about windows/outlook/file
sizes.

> > (The latest is, for some reason, over
> > the last several days, the local repository on my computer doesn't seem
> > to work or resolve, the file portion of the path to the local spool file
> > seems to not want to exist, and is greyed out when I try to
> > re-initialize it, at some point, I'll go into the file with an xml
> > editor, and just add it back in, but ... really, one shouldn't have to
> > do that.)
> >
> > > You might want to consider a file-per-message server such as Cyrus,
> > > Courier or Dovecot. File-per-folder systems are not scaleable. Every
> > > time you delete and expunge a message from the middle of your 200GB
> > > file, the server has to copy all 200 gigs.
> >
> > I know.  But it is what evolution plays well with, unfortunately.  And
> > yes, I'm using Courier on the server, btw.
>
> Evo works perfectly well with Cyrus, which is what I use. I believe it
> also works with other popular IMAP servers including Courier and
> Dovecot.

Which is why I use Courier.

-dkap