[Dovecot] Index files

[Timo Sirainen]

On Tue, 2006-10-17 at 09:18 -0500, Steven F Siirila wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 17, 2006 at 02:40:46PM +0300, Timo Sirainen wrote:
> > On Tue, 2006-10-17 at 00:15 -0500, Steven F Siirila wrote:
> > > I am doing some testing with Dovecot and wondered if it was normal for
> > > the deliver program to create index files for an Inbox (the test Inbox
> > > is over 7MB), but to not update the index files after the initial creation,
> > > even though messages continue to come into the mailbox.  Note that during
> > > this testing, no IMAP or POP accesses are being made.  Would it matter
> > > if a command-line program such as mutt were reading/updating the Inbox
> > > in question?  Shouldn't Dovecot delivery be continually updating the
> > > index files as new messages arrive in the Inbox?
> > 
> > Are you're using 1.0.rc7 or newer? It fixed a bug related to this.
> 
> Actually, we are currently using 1.0.rc6, but will re-test with 1.0.rc10.

OK, that's most likely your problem.

> > Deliver updates the indexes only when it determines that the indexes are
> > up to date (mtime and file size match what indexes contain). If they
> > aren't, it doesn't waste time in synchronizing the mbox but just lets
> > the imap/pop3 do it later.
> 
> Hmm.  Would it make sense to remove the files in this case?  (Would it
> be more efficient for the next delivery if the files simply did not exist?)

Well.. You would be correct, except in that case Dovecot just recreates
the index file. Maybe I should change this some day, so that the index
file is created only when the first synchronization is done.

In any case although deleting the index would make the next delivery a
bit more efficient (no need to open+read header), it would make the next
mailbox synchronization less efficient (full resync vs. small updates),
so from a total efficiency point of view I think it would be a bad
idea. :)
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