On Sat, 2007-03-31 at 08:46 -0700, Marc Perkel wrote: <snip>
I've been waiting till 1.0 came out to ask for new features like SQL. I don't think that SQL is a waste of time at all. In fact I believe that SQL is the future of email storage. SQL has a lot of advantages that will be tapped once people start using it. Yes - it is probably slower than mbox or maildir but you can make up for that with faster computers. SQL offers.
Replication - the ability to have instant redundancy on multiple servers.
The ability to undeliver messages - if the indexes are configured right, if you get a spam attack from an IP and after the attack you realize it was spam you can run a quick query and delete delivered email.
Statistical advantages - admins can do email queries across all domains and all usersand all folders to gather useful information. An example might be to generate white list information that can be used for trusted email sources to bypass spam filtering and reduce false positives.
Search Speed - should be a lot faster to search messages than maildir.
And - there's probably a lot of things that will be realized once it's implemented because the indexing ability opens new posibilities.
So - I definitely am someone who supports this idea. It will also make Dovecot stand out as a superior IMAP server.
Go for it!
I second the yes yes yes! Many of my clients have been asking for a Maximizer or ACT! contact manager replacement that will run under Linux or is web-based and not crazy expensive. One of the core features is that many different kinds of objects like files, notes and email can to be linked to a particular contact. If you pull up a contact, it should show the whole history of your interactions with that client including all email correspondence. Up 'til now, I haven't seen an open source contact manager that has this capability without the user having to jump hoops. Having a robust SQL mail storage system gives developers a key tool to integrate email linking with contacts in a flexible manner.
Thanks for opening up a new door!
Stephen