On Fri, Sep 04, 2009 at 12:22:47PM -0400, Dan Ritter wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 10:27:20PM -0400, Thomas Baker wrote:
> > If I am reading an important thread in mutt and need to put that
> > thread into my to-do list, I save it as a file, e.g.:
> >
> > 2009-09-03.mutt-rxvt-configuration.mbox
> >
> > I run a shell script to add a reference to that file to the
> > to-do list in my browser, e.g. the clickable:
> >
> > <a
> > href="file://localhost/e:/foo/2009-09-03.mutt-rxvt-configuration.mbox">
> >
> > I can move email files around just like any another
> > data .doc or .xls files, and I can archive the email for a
> > project together with all the other data files.
>
> You might want to consider switching to Maildir.
>
> Maildir uses a small directory structure (name, name/cur,
> name/new, name/tmp) to hold messages as individual files.
>
> The advantages are:
>
> - reading/writing/moving/deleting messages is faster than opening an
> mbox, looking for the right message, editing it, then
> rewriting the whole mbox.
>
Possibly faster for a *program* to do but not so easy for a
person to do directly.
> - grep returns individual messages, not an mbox to search
> through
>
But on the other hand you have to do a recursive grep through a
hierarchy of directories. With mbox there is a simple text file whose
name is the name of the mailbox so you can easily 'grep <name of
mailbox>' to search for something.
> - safe for multiple opens of the same Maildir simultaneously
>
> - safe to use over NFS or Samba or what-have-you
>
> - safe for MTA's to deliver to
>
> The disadvantages are:
>
> - it's not exactly what you are used to.
>
> - reading a giant Maildir may be slower than reading a giant
> mbox.
>
plus:-
Depending on what/who created the maildir hierarchy you may find
it virtually impossible to move directories (which aren't real
directories) and mailboxes around.
You can't easily delete a maildir mailbox, not safely (as in
'safe' above) anyway.
> Mutt supports Maildir very well.
>
--
Chris Green
