[Dovecot] SQL mail storage - yes yes yes!

[Stephen Lee]

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