Balsa question

[Jack Ostroff]

Out of curiosity, how does balsa number messages in a maildir mailbox?  
In an mbox file, they are numbered by message order within the file.  I  
mostly use mbox, but I have one maildir mailbox set up, and for some  
reason, the message numbers caught my eye, and I can't figure them  
out.  #1 is the newest message and the highest number happens to be the  
oldest, but I can't see any other pattern.

Thanks for any response or even which fine manual I should read.

Jack
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[Ildar Mulyukov]

On 07.08.2009 05:08:14, Jack Ostroff wrote:
> Out of curiosity, how does balsa number messages in a maildir  
> mailbox?  In an mbox file, they are numbered by message order within  
> the file.  I mostly use mbox, but I have one maildir mailbox set up,  
> and for some reason, the message numbers caught my eye, and I can't  
> figure them out.  #1 is the newest message and the highest number  
> happens to be the oldest, but I can't see any other pattern.
>
> Thanks for any response or even which fine manual I should read.

I guess the order is the same as `ls` shows you. I can't tell you how  
one can use it.
I use maildir extensively (it's freespace robust) and advice you to use  
sort by Date.
Regards,
--
Ildar  Mulyukov,  free SW designer/programmer/packager
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[Peter Bloomfield]

Hi Jack:

On 08/06/2009 07:08:14 PM Thu, Jack Ostroff wrote:
> Out of curiosity, how does balsa number messages in a maildir mailbox?  
> In an mbox file, they are numbered by message order within the file.  I  
> mostly use mbox, but I have one maildir mailbox set up, and for some  
> reason, the message numbers caught my eye, and I can't figure them out.  
> #1 is the newest message and the highest number happens to be the  
> oldest, but I can't see any other pattern.
>
> Thanks for any response or even which fine manual I should read.

Balsa uses g_dir_read_name() in a loop to find all the message files, and  
assigns message numbers in that order.  So it's determined by the way the  
file system manages the directory and glib reads it--I would guess that if  
you start with an empty folder and only ever add messages, it's the order  
in which you add them, but I'm not sure that's guaranteed.  If you expunge  
a message, does the next one to be added take the empty slot?

Best,

Peter
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[Jack Ostroff]

On 2009.08.07 06:01, Peter Bloomfield wrote:

> Hi Jack:
>
> On 08/06/2009 07:08:14 PM Thu, Jack Ostroff wrote:
>> Out of curiosity, how does balsa number messages in a maildir  
>> mailbox?  In an mbox file, they are numbered by message order within  
>> the file.  I mostly use mbox, but I have one maildir mailbox set up,  
>> and for some reason, the message numbers caught my eye, and I can't  
>> figure them out.  #1 is the newest message and the highest number  
>> happens to be the oldest, but I can't see any other pattern.
>>
>> Thanks for any response or even which fine manual I should read.
>
> Balsa uses g_dir_read_name() in a loop to find all the message files,  
> and assigns message numbers in that order.  So it's determined by the  
> way the file system manages the directory and glib reads it--I would  
> guess that if you start with an empty folder and only ever add  
> messages, it's the order in which you add them, but I'm not sure  
> that's guaranteed.  If you expunge a message, does the next one to be  
> added take the empty slot?

Ildar - I do sort by date, with JWZ threading.  I only noticed the  
numbering issue as a curiosity, not because I expected any particular  
behavior.

Peter - Given that the oldest message currently has the highest number  
and the newest is #1, it does appear that slots get reused.  Actually -  
I just got one more message in that mailbox, and it is now the highest  
number.

To me, this just means that message number doesn't really mean anything  
in a maildir mailbox.  In an mbox, on the other hand, I have used the  
message number in the past to help me debug problems with both mime  
decoding issues and with garbled mbox files.

Thanks all for the responses.

Jack
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