[Evolution] expunge speed

[Dan Berger]

On 17 Aug 2001 10:52:34 -0400, Andrew Smith wrote:

> I'm surprised that you are able to hit expunge after every 
> deletion. 
> 
> Does anyone else watch the paint dry after hitting expunge? 
> 
> The status bar goes on about synchronizing folders, but this takes
> somewhere on the order of 8-12 seconds no matter how many messages >
are being expunged.

So, the time taken in expunging a mailbox depends heavily the mailbox
format.  mbox (still the default, though god knows why) - keeps messages
in a single, linear, file.  Expunging a message has to re-write the
*entire file.*  So if the file is large (i.e. you have many messages, or
a few messages with large attachments), expunge takes a long time.

On the other hand, most IMAP servers don't store their messages in mbox
format - they either use on of the other standards (maildir, mh) or a
proprietary one-message-per-file format.  (This is especially important
on large IMAP servers as it provides the ability to use hard-links to
deliver a single message to many recipients).  Note that there's nothing
to prevent you from storing local mail this way - it's just that for
historical reasons, most mailers default to mbox.
 
Anyway - you could convert your mailbox to mh or (my preference) maildir
- I suspect the paint will dry much faster. :)
 
-- 
   Dan Berger [dberger@ix.netcom.com]
   http://home.ix.netcom.com/~dberger
   Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

   "We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act, 
    but a habit."
                                  -- Aristotle

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