On Mon, 11 Nov 2002, James Hunkins wrote:
> I don't like the idea of a single file. Take a look at Microsoft's
> email program - there have been many problems with the single file once
> it gets too large. Things slow down, corruption is possible, and
> trying to extract and save individual emails gets 'interesting'.
I don't like the idea of a single file either, because removing an email
from the middle of a file and closing up thew gap is slow if done on a
drive, or would exhaust memory. I don't want to divide email by date
either. Finally, I do not want to divide email by sender email, because
the penalty is that the ones who send most mail have the largest files and
slowest response.
Instead, I am aiming towards a subdirectory structure, thus:
inbox_index
inbox_1211020001
.
.
inbox_121102FFFF (ie can handle 65536 mails a day)
delet_index
delet_1211020001
etc...
I will also allow people to create their own folders and move mail between
folders.
> Someone else mentioned the QL file limitations per directory. This
> could become a problem for someone who gets a lot of emails. You might
I think if people really store that much mail, I will have it auto archive
mail, and inform the user. EG: on start up it can say "You have over
30,000 emails. Call Geeks Anonymous on..." *grins*
> Also, are you aiming this at all users including floppy and microdrive
> types? If so, what happens if a user fills up a floppy, etc (for some
> of us, this is a real possibility).
I will allow each folder to be on a different drive, so inbox could be on
flp1_ and others on flp#_ - all user-assignable.
I think it will be important to include mail backup facilities, just to be
on the safe side for everyone.
Dave
