[Alpine-info] answered flag updates close other alpine sessions

[Mark Crispin]

On Thu, 27 Mar 2008, Vince LaMonica wrote:

> This may seem like a silly question, but how does one tell the difference

> between UNIX format and mbx?


Traditional UNIX format is the mailbox format that has been on UNIX 
systems since the 1970s.  It is distinguished by flat files with messages 
in LF newline form, delimited by lines that start with "From " (note the 
space), an address of some sort, and a date/time of some sort.

mbx (not to be confused with "mbox") format was introduced in 1996, and is 
distinquished by a flat file starting with a line consisting entirely of 
the string "*mbx*".  This flat file has a 2K mailbox metadata header area, 
followed by messages consisting of a message metadata line containing the 
size and the message text in CRLF newline form.

They are not at all alike.


> While this might be more relevant for the UW-IMAP list, how does one

> change one's IMAP server to "mbx" from "unix"?


http://www.washington.edu/imap/IMAP-FAQs/index.html#4.5

Please read through this and other FAQ questions.


> How new is mbx?


12 years old now.


> How does

> mbx differ from mix [which, i take it, is a very new format?].


mix is an indexed directory format designed for high performance with 
large mailboxes.  It was introduced in 2006.  This is the format that UW 
uses in its servers.

-- Mark --

http://panda.com/mrc
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