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diff --git a/doc/wiki/MailboxFormat.txt b/doc/wiki/MailboxFormat.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f70184 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/wiki/MailboxFormat.txt @@ -0,0 +1,147 @@ +Mailbox Formats +=============== + +Mailbox formats supported by Dovecot: ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| *Name* | *Tag* | *Description* | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| <mbox> | 'mbox' | Traditional UNIX | +| [MailboxFormat.mbox.txt] | | mailbox format. | +| | | Users' INBOX | +| | | mboxes are | +| | | commonly stored in| +| | | '/var/spool/mail' | +| | | or '/var/mail' | +| | | directory. Single | +| | | file contains | +| | | multiple messages.| ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| <Maildir> | 'maildir' | One file contains | +| [MailboxFormat.Maildir.txt] | | one message. A | +| | | reliable choice | +| | | since files are | +| | | never modified and| +| | | all operations are| +| | | atomic. The | +| | | top-level | +| | | 'Maildir' | +| | | directory contains| +| | | the 'Maildir/cur',| +| | | 'Maildir/new' and | +| | | 'Maildir/tmp' | +| | | subdirectories. | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| <dbox> | 'sdbox' | *single-dbox*, one| Dovecot's | +| [MailboxFormat.dbox.txt] | | message per file | own high | +| | | | performance | +| | | | mailbox | +| | | | format. | +| | | | Messages are| +| | | | stored in | +| | | | one or more | +| | | | files, each | +| | | | containing | +| | | | one or more | +| | | | messages. | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| 'mdbox' | *multi-dbox*, | +| | multiple | +| | messages per | +| | file | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| 'dbox' | deprecated | +| | alias for | +| | 'sdbox' | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| <Cydir> | 'cydir' | Dovecot's own | +| [MailboxFormat.Cydir.txt] | | simple and high | +| | | performance | +| | | Cyrus-like mailbox| +| | | format. It should | +| | | be mostly used for| +| | | testing and | +| | | benchmarking only.| ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| <imapc> | 'imapc' | Use remote IMAP | +| [MailboxFormat.imapc.txt] | | server as mail | +| | | storage. | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ +| <pop3c> | 'pop3c' | Use remote POP3 | +| [MailboxFormat.pop3c.txt] | | server as mail | +| | | storage. | ++-----------------------------+---------------+-------------------+-------------+ + +The *Tag* column indicates the tag which is used at the beginning of a <mailbox +location specification> [MailLocation.txt]. + +Mailbox formats *not* supported by Dovecot: ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| *Name* | *Description* | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| <mbx> [MailboxFormat.mbx.txt] | UW-IMAP's old high performance mailbox | +| | format. One file contains all the mailboxes,| +| | so expunges may still be slow. | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| <mix> [MailboxFormat.mix.txt] | UW-IMAP's new (2006) high performance | +| | mailbox format. Similar to multi-dbox. | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| <mailstore> | A format created by Exim. | +| [MailboxFormat.mailstore.txt] | | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| <MH> [MailboxFormat.MH.txt] | One file contains one message. Sort order of| +| | the folder determines the message ID and | +| | name. Actively used by projects such as | +| | MH-E, NMH, exmh. Experimentally supported | +| | by UW-IMAP | +| | [https://www.washington.edu/imap/]. | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| <MMDF> [MailboxFormat.MMDF.txt]| Similar to mbox, but instead of From-line | +| | separators it uses four '^A' characters | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ +| <Cyrus> | One file contains one message, plus there | +| [MailboxFormat.Cyrus.txt] | are a couple of index/cache files. Commonly | +| | referred to as being maildir-like, although | +| | they have only a single thing in common. | ++-------------------------------+---------------------------------------------+ + +Adding support for new formats for Dovecot isn't very difficult, although it +can be time consuming. Dovecot exposes a nice and simple API which needs to be +implemented. Use Cydir format as an example. + +Software Support +---------------- + ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| *Format/Software* | *Dovecot | *UW-IMAP | *Courier-IMAP | *Exim | *Postfix | *PINE | *mutt | *procmail | *maildrop | +| | [https://www.dovecot.org/]* | [https://www.washington.edu/imap/]* | [https://www.courier-mta.org/imap/]* | [https://www.exim.org/]* | [https://www.postfix.org/]* | [https://www.washington.edu/pine/]* | [https://www.mutt.org/]* | [https://www.procmail.org/]* | [https://www.courier-mta.org/maildrop/]* | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| <mbox> [MailboxFormat.mbox.txt]| Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| <mbx> [MailboxFormat.mbx.txt] | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| <maildir> | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes (3.22) | Yes | +| [MailboxFormat.Maildir.txt] | | | | | | | | | | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| <mailstore> | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | +| [MailboxFormat.mailstore.txt] | | | | | | | | | | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| <dbox> [MailboxFormat.dbox.txt]| Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ +| <MH> [MailboxFormat.MH.txt] | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ++-------------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------------------+-------------------------------------+--------------------------+------------------------------+------------------------------------------+ + +Conversion Between Mailbox Formats +---------------------------------- + +See <Migration.MailFormat.txt>. + +References +---------- + + * Mutt mailbox formats: https://rucus.ru.ac.za/docs/mutt/manual58.html + * Article on mailbox formats: + https://www.livejournal.com/users/rfunk/1571.html + * Mbox and maildir comparison: + https://www.linuxmail.info/mbox-maildir-mail-storage-formats/ + +(This file was created from the wiki on 2019-06-19 12:42) |