[Dovecot] 2nd REPOST: mbox vs maildir

[Timo Sirainen]

On Thu, 2010-02-18 at 09:52 -0700, Ashley M. Kirchner wrote:
> Timo Sirainen wrote:
> > Things would probably be simpler if you used prefix="" here.
>     The reason I used a prefix is for the way things show up in 
> Thunderbird and Outlook.  Without the prefix, it all falls under the 
> same "tree" as their INBOX.  By adding the prefix, they get an extra 
> level called 'mail' where everything lives in.  It's a visual thing.

I'd think other people would also hate that. I would. :) Anyway, if it's
intentional then be sure to set subscriptions=yes for that namespace too
(although I think it's default anyway).

> >> namespace private {
> >>     separator = /
> >>     prefix = "mail-Archives/"
> >>     location = maildir:~/mail-Archives:LAYOUT=fs
> >
> > Are these really maildirs? Seems like exactly the opposite of what
> > they're good at :) (Maildir is good for active mails, mbox for
> > unchanging archives.)
>     I guess this is where I'm confused and would love a primer on what 
> the differences are, and when to use what.

mbox and maildir are completely different mailbox formats. In mbox a
single file contains all messages, while in maildir each message is in a
different file.

>        /home/%u/mail-Archives/
>             this is where long term archives are, this is stuff that
>             comes OUT of their /home/%u/mail/ and put here, and always
>             stored in a yearly hierarchy, for example:
> 
>                /home/%u/mail-Archives/2009/Ashley/Ashley-Dec09

So Ahsley-Dec09 is a file? It sounds like you're using mbox, so you
should use:

location = mbox:~/Mail-Archives

(the :LAYOUT=fs is unnecessary, because it's the default with mboxes
anyway.)

>     So, am I using the wrong setup for the namespaces?  Possibly, I went 
> by what I found online.  This is the first time I've ever tried to run 
> Dovecot.  Previously we ran uw-imap.

It's probably a good use of namespaces, although it would be simpler if
you just put archives under ~/mail/Archives/.
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