[Dovecot] Spliting Folders for Efficiency

[Kyle Wheeler]

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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