email location - files or sql

[Robert Moskowitz]

Wondered about that.  Other reasons not to go with iRedMail.

On 2/23/22 21:01, Lucas Rolff wrote:
> iRedMail does not store emails in a database. It stores account 
> information in a database. Emails are stored on the filesystem.
>
> Get Outlook for iOS <https://aka.ms/o0ukef>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* dovecot <dovecot-bounces at dovecot.org> on behalf of Robert 
> Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com>
> *Sent:* Thursday, February 24, 2022 9:48:11 AM
> *To:* dovecot at dovecot.org <dovecot at dovecot.org>
> *Subject:* Re: email location - files or sql
>
>
> On 2/23/22 19:12, Ralph Seichter wrote:
> > * Robert Moskowitz:
> >
> >> What I am seeing is that many of the packages seem to roll the
> >> messages into some SQL database.
> > Do they?
>
> Packages like iRedMail list email stored in the database of your
> choice.  Of course this is just their web blurb, and I have yet to find
> one of these that suit my needs.  More and more, I am looking at rolling
> my own again.  Challenge has always been integrating the anti-virus.
> Clamav has been quite the challenge.
>
> >> My Dovecot setup uses the /home/vmail/doman/../{cur,new,etc} tree
> >> structure.
> > That's the classic Maildir format. Widely supported, works fine if file
> > system nodes are not a scarce commodity. Dovecot supports other formats
> > (see https://doc.dovecot.org/admin_manual/mailbox_formats/) as well, but
> > I still use Maildir because it is required by Notmuch, which is my
> > software of choice for handling all my mailing list subscriptions.
>
> I liked Maildir at the time and still do.  Only a 1,000+ emails a day.
> My wife keeps a lot (10K messages) on the server, I keep all of my
> various boxes on the server small.  So do my other users.
>
> > Personally, I would not use a relational database as a mail store unless
> > specifically required by the mail system of your choice. Email is not
> > organised in a way that benefits from a RDB.
>
> I was there for the beginning of RDB.  Almost had NOMAD shoved down my
> throat (UNIVAC)  and did work with RIM (BCS) then R:Base. Was gamma
> release site of DB2, where we worked out how to do a UNION which was not
> supported in the original design.  I have seen email systems that stuff
> the messages into RDB and really wonder if the hammer really fits.
>
>
>
> >
> >> Is there some nice packed mailserver I can drop on a Centos-arm server
> >> that has Dovecot under the covers and I can easily rsync my current
> >> mail store to it?
> > As far as migrating content is concerned, you're better off using some
> > form of IMAP synchronisation. This method is not dependent on the
> > underlying mail store format, and it preserves the IMAP flags for your
> > existing messages.
>
> I did see that mentioned once, and have down to research it.  Thanks for
> the pointer.
>
>
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