[badtz]

Does anyone know if mail.app in tiger uses maildir now, instead of mboxes as the email storage format?

Does it automatically convert them for you to maildir if so [when you import]?

?

[Gee4orce]

Looks like mbox to me - what's the difference ?

[badtz]

maildir = stores emails individually in their own folder

mbox = stores all emails together in one file


mbox has a higher chance of corruption.


I thought I read somewhere that maildir is implemented in mail.app .......

[JLL]

Originally Posted by badtz

maildir = stores emails individually in their own folder

mbox = stores all emails together in one file


mbox has a higher chance of corruption.


I thought I read somewhere that maildir is implemented in mail.app .......

Each mails is stored individually

[Krypton]

They have always been stored individually:

Select .mbox -> Right-click -> 'Show package contents'

boom!

[JLL]

Originally Posted by Krypton

They have always been stored individually:

Select .mbox -> Right-click -> 'Show package contents'

boom!

What secret version of Mail have you been using? In that .mbox bundle is (among a couple of other files) a file named mbox - that is a text file containing all the mails for that mailbox.

Perhaps you're looking at an .imapmbox?

[Jan Van Boghout]

Mail.app before Tiger used to save them in one file, but Tiger Mail has individual files (mainly because of Spotlight I presume).

[Krypton]

Originally Posted by JLL

What secret version of Mail have you been using? In that .mbox bundle is (among a couple of other files) a file named mbox - that is a text file containing all the mails for that mailbox.

Perhaps you're looking at an .imapmbox?

Ok, yes sorry - all my main accounts are IMAP based.

[Millennium]

Originally Posted by JLL

What secret version of Mail have you been using? In that .mbox bundle is (among a couple of other files) a file named mbox - that is a text file containing all the mails for that mailbox.

Perhaps you're looking at an .imapmbox?

There's some confusion going here.

There is a .mbox bundle in Panther versions of Mail. It's a folder containing text files, but there are only two files: a table of contents and the actual mail database (which is in standard mbox format: one text file). Apple seems to have been a little creative with their interpretation of the mbox file format, but in the end it's one file containing all of the messages.

In Panther, Mail.app is moving to maildir -a newer standard than mbox, but a standard just the same- to store its messages. This is why e-mails are stored individually: that's part of the maildir standard. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach, but if I were to hazard a guess then I'd have to say that Spotlight is probably the main reason for the switch; it would work better with maildir than mbox would. I'd imagine that it can also still import mbox files and Apple's "mbox" packages, so that people can upgrade.

[JLL]

Originally Posted by Millennium

There's some confusion going here.

There is a .mbox bundle in Panther versions of Mail. It's a folder containing text files, but there are only two files: a table of contents and the actual mail database (which is in standard mbox format: one text file). Apple seems to have been a little creative with their interpretation of the mbox file format, but in the end it's one file containing all of the messages.

And a content_index and sometimes an Info.plist

Mail does differentiate between the two mbox "formats" in the Import feature, but the mbox file in the mbox bundle is a standard mbox file.

Originally Posted by Millennium

I'd imagine that it can also still import mbox files and Apple's "mbox" packages, so that people can upgrade.

Yes it can, and it also converts your existing mails the first time you open Mail in Tiger.

[badtz]

Originally Posted by JLL

Yes it can, and it also converts your existing mails the first time you open Mail in Tiger.

Just ot make sure :

so when you import your emails into mail.app, it'll automatically convert them to maildir?

[Big Mac]

There have been multiple reports of Tiger Mail not properly importing (at least on the first attempt) mail from the previous version..