Marc Perkel wrote:
Just curious - have any of you tried the ReiserFS file system with Maildir? I would think that it should make maildir a lot faster and more efficient.
The proposed mailbox format does seem overly complicated and like a problem that would be better solved at the file system layer.
Lots of performance problems come down to making a decision about how best to use some underlying resource, and often the answer ends up being added complication in the application layer, but usually that's because there isn't a better solution available in a lower layer.
In this case, I'd recommend the client funding this development first give file system optimization a shot before paying for the development of a bunch of code that only serves the purpose of compensating for file system deficiencies.
-Tom