nnml compaction

nnml compaction

[Didier Verna]

        Dear folks,

I've just committed a long awaited feature (I think): nnml compaction at the
_backend_ level. Here, compaction means removing the gaps between article
numbers (and actually starting again from article number 1). This gives you
more accurate information (like total number of articles and so on).

No more need for each user to create a new group and move all articles to that
group, or any other manual trickery that we've seen before. To use this
feature, you can type 'G z' on an nnml group in the Group Buffer, or you can
type 'z' on an nnml server in the Server Buffer (All groups in this server
will be compacted).

This feature is fully functional for me, but should probably still be
considered beta. In particular, it correctly preserves marks, but nothing is
written to support the agent or the cache. I don't know these beasts and I
don't even know whether I should be concerned by them. Any expertise on the
matter would be appreciated. Also, there is still a display problem with the
server compaction function: it doesn't update the information in the Group
Buffer. 

I've run it on my main nnml server and it took 4 minutes to compact 25000
messages. This result is totally meaningless because I have no information on
the topology of the gaps I had (I just know there were plenty because of
removed spams). However, it shows that the feature works ;-)

Last thing: I've not updated the Gnus manual yet.


Try it, but backup first :-)

-- 
Didier Verna, didier@lrde.epita.fr, http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier

EPITA / LRDE, 14-16 rue Voltaire   Tel.+33 (1) 44 08 01 85
94276 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France   Fax.+33 (1) 53 14 59 22   didier@xemacs.org

Re: nnml compaction

[Ken Raeburn]

On Sep 19, 2005, at 06:29, Didier Verna wrote:

> This feature is fully functional for me, but should probably still be
> considered beta. In particular, it correctly preserves marks, but  
> nothing is
> written to support the agent or the cache. I don't know these  
> beasts and I
> don't even know whether I should be concerned by them. Any  
> expertise on the
> matter would be appreciated. Also, there is still a display problem  
> with the
> server compaction function: it doesn't update the information in  
> the Group
> Buffer.
>

Are you updating xref data too?  Both in the message file (or files,  
in the case where hard-linking doesn't work) and in the overview  
files of other groups?

Ken

Re: nnml compaction

[Didier Verna]

Ken Raeburn <raeburn@raeburn.org> wrote:

> Are you updating xref data too? Both in the message file (or files, in the
> case where hard-linking doesn't work) and in the overview files of other
> groups?

        No, not yet. Currently, only the article number in the overview file
is updated (and also the marks file).

-- 
Didier Verna, didier@lrde.epita.fr, http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier

EPITA / LRDE, 14-16 rue Voltaire   Tel.+33 (1) 44 08 01 85
94276 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France   Fax.+33 (1) 53 14 59 22   didier@xemacs.org

Re: nnml compaction

[Katsumi Yamaoka]

>>>>> In <muxfys09og7.fsf@uzeb.lrde.epita.fr> Didier Verna wrote:

> Ken Raeburn <raeburn@raeburn.org> wrote:

>> Are you updating xref data too? Both in the message file (or files, in the
>> case where hard-linking doesn't work) and in the overview files of other
>> groups?

>         No, not yet. Currently, only the article number in the overview file
> is updated (and also the marks file).

Do you have a plan to achieve it?

Re: nnml compaction

[Didier Verna]

Katsumi Yamaoka <yamaoka@jpl.org> wrote:

>>> Are you updating xref data too? Both in the message file (or files, in the
>>> case where hard-linking doesn't work) and in the overview files of other
>>> groups?
>
>>         No, not yet. Currently, only the article number in the overview file
>> is updated (and also the marks file).
>
> Do you have a plan to achieve it?

        Yes :-) Unless someone beats me on it of course. Updating the NOV
entry for the article won't be hard. Maybe finding and updating affected
crossposts elsewhere will be more difficult. I don't know; I've not looked at
it yet.

-- 
Didier Verna, didier@lrde.epita.fr, http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~didier

EPITA / LRDE, 14-16 rue Voltaire   Tel.+33 (1) 44 08 01 85
94276 Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France   Fax.+33 (1) 53 14 59 22   didier@xemacs.org

Re: nnml compaction

[Miles Bader]

Didier Verna <didier@lrde.epita.fr> writes:
> I've just committed a long awaited feature (I think): nnml compaction at the
> _backend_ level. Here, compaction means removing the gaps between article
> numbers (and actually starting again from article number 1).

Cool, thanks very much!  The "article numbers always increase despite
huge gaps" behavior of nnml has always been an annoying wart of gnus...

-miles
-- 
"Most attacks seem to take place at night, during a rainstorm, uphill,
 where four map sheets join."   -- Anon. British Officer in WW I