mail-crypt and mbox format

[Marc]

What you should also consider if you are using some distributed filesystem or block devices, is that maildir format created lots of small files, which in some storage backends will give you quite a bit of storage amplification. That is why I choose for the mdbox format.


> 
> Unfortunately, this document doesn't really address the OP's need,
> which is to migrate mailbox formats on the same server.  Now migrating
> to a new server would work, where the new server was setup to use
> maildir as the default.
> 
> Maybe a new section could be added talking about this situation in
> more explicit terms, with some real examples of conversions?
> 
> John
> >>
> >>
> >> Thank you for confirming. That was the conclusion I came to,
> particularly after seeing the structure of Maildir mailboxes and how the
> individual messages were encrypted. Clearly it would be difficult to do
> the same with an unlimited number of messages stored in a single file.
> >>
> >> A followup question if I may. I probably should just start another
> thread, but, how difficult is it to convert to Maildir? Any gotchas? Any
> differences in how to manage the server? How effective is the mb2md? Not
> looking for a cookbook, just an opinion on whether it is worth converting.
> >>
> >> We've used mbox format going back before CentOS 5, so change is hard.
> >>
> >> Environment is CentOS 7, Dovecot, Sendmail, Pigeonhole, MailScanner,
> Mailwatch SQL, Thunderbird clients.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >> Doug
> >> On Friday, February 11, 2022, 09:31:09 AM EST, Aki Tuomi
> <aki.tuomi at open-xchange.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> > On 11/02/2022 16:26 cincodemayo_67 at yahoo.com
> <cincodemayo_67 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Hi,
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > My Dovecot server of many years has been set up to use mbox email
> folders. I want to implement mail-crypt and after banging my head against
> a wall for a few days trying to get mail-crypt to work I decided to try it
> against a test instance of my server that I reset to use Maildir format
> and mail-crypt worked instantly.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Does mail-crypt work with mbox format mail folders, or am I wasting
> my time unless I switch over to Maildir? The documentation
> at https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/mail_crypt_plugin/ doesn't
> explicitly say Maildir is required.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Thanks in advance,
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > Doug
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> Mail crypt will not work with it. Mbox format has limited support of
> features.
> >> ---
> >> Aki Tuomi