On Friday, October 12 at 11:06 AM, quoth Daniel Watts:
What actually ARE the advantages of a 'one file per folder' format??
It depends on the environment. It's exceedingly efficient at storage: on a filesystem with 4k blocks, three 1k messages take up 1 block (4k), where in a one-file-per-message format they take up 3 blocks (12k). Some filesystems have mechanisms of coping with files that only occupy a partial block, but those mechanisms tend to be expensive, and are often only employed when strapped for space. The one-file-per-folder arrangement also helps when doing sequential reads (i.e. searches, or loading it into memory, or processing it with a filter, or whatever else): when the OS spools the file from disk, it loads it up a block at a time, which in a one-file-per-folder format is several messages, but in a one-file-per-message format is only ever a single message.
I've often contemplated setting up a separate mbox-based namespace in my Dovecot setup (e.g. everything in the Archive folder is saved as an mbox), just for the space savings.
~Kyle --Only the fool hopes to repeat an experience; the wise man knows that every experience is to be viewed as a blessing.
-- Henry Miller
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