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Date:      Sat, 26 May 2001 19:25:16 +1000
From:      "Andrew Reilly" <areilly@bigpond.net.au>
To:        Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>
Cc:        hackers@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: technical comparison
Message-ID:  <20010526192516.A2573@gurney.reilly.home>
In-Reply-To: <200105252049.NAA13292@usr06.primenet.com>; from tlambert@primenet.com on Fri, May 25, 2001 at 08:49:21PM %2B0000
References:  <200105252049.NAA13292@usr06.primenet.com>

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On Fri, May 25, 2001 at 08:49:21PM +0000, Terry Lambert wrote:
> There is _no_ performance problem with "the existing implementation",
> if you treat "postgres" as "the existing implementation"; it will do
> what you want, quickly and effectively, for millions of record keys.

Does postgres make a good mail archive database?  Can it handle
arbitrary record lengths?  It couldn't the last time I looked at
it.

> Why are you treating an FS as if it were a relational database?  It
> is a tool intended to solve an entirely different problem set.

I'm not treating it as a relational database.  But if mail
messages aren't conceptually "files", then I don't know what
they are.

One of my personal mail folders has 4400 messages in it, and
I've only been collecting that one for a few years.  It's not
millions, but its a few more than the "500" that I've seen some
discuss here as a reasonable limit (why is that reasonable?) and
it's many many more than the 72 or so limit available in ADFS.

I changed over to Maildirs becuase I like the fact that I
can use normal Unix file search and manipulation programs on
individual messages, as well as a wider set of MUAs (thanks
to courier IMAP...), and because folder opening doesn't bog
down when there are a couple of messages with really large
attachments in them, the way mbox folders do.

> You are bitching about your hammer not making a good screwdriver.

If the file system isn't a good place to store files, then what
is it good for?

Souce code trees only?

There are application specific databases available for that too.

What have you got left?

-- 
Andrew

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