db-backed mail back end

db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Now that there are nice, free SQL-based database servers out there
(PostgreSQL, and, er, PostgreSQL), would it be an idea to have a
db-backed mail back end?  What would you gain by such a beast, and
what would you lose?

1) You would be able to search
2) You could create new groupings on-the-fly -- by altering
   the "splitting" criteria, you would alter which messages
   end up where (perhaps) (or not)
3) erm...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Daniel Pittman]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Now that there are nice, free SQL-based database servers out there
> (PostgreSQL, and, er, PostgreSQL), would it be an idea to have a
> db-backed mail back end?  

Oh, yes, it would indeed. IMO, of course, and I never did get off my
backside and work out if it was worth the trouble to migrate to any of:
* SQL
* GDBM, &c.
* Some random Lisp reader format...

> What would you gain by such a beast, and what would you lose?

Gain?  For me, the biggest pain with Gnus right now is that there are
some scalability issues. I got sick of losing information that had been
on mailing lists, so I stopped expiring mail a couple of years ago.

Disk space is sufficiently cheap, even for a laptop, that I don't have
space issues with this. Gnus starts to feel a little pain, sometimes,
though when dealing with groups in the > 75,000 messages range (with
NNML.)

> 1) You would be able to search

...this is one of the places; I go for 'M-x grep' and 'j' to search
messages...

> 2) You could create new groupings on-the-fly -- by altering
>    the "splitting" criteria, you would alter which messages
>    end up where (perhaps) (or not)
> 3) erm...

...hopefully, some improvement in performance. Er, especially with
XEmacs and Postgresql, where there is a native implementation of the
client connection stuff. Mmmm, native C code.

At the very least it should improve the speed of finding files and
returning them, which is the second biggest performance issue.
Especially now that some of my NNML groups are too big for a standard
'ls *' to work on. ;)

        Daniel

-- 
It is quite humbling to realize that the storage occupied by the longest line
from a typical Usenet posting is sufficient to provide a state space so vast
that all the computation power in the world can not conquer it.
        -- Dave Wallace

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

> Gain?  For me, the biggest pain with Gnus right now is that there are
> some scalability issues. I got sick of losing information that had been
> on mailing lists, so I stopped expiring mail a couple of years ago.

A db doesn't necessarily give you any performance gain.  If you're not
careful with how you set things up, you can get arbitrarily awful db
performance (and I should know, since I've been Oracling a lot these
past years. :-))

> Disk space is sufficiently cheap, even for a laptop, that I don't have
> space issues with this. Gnus starts to feel a little pain, sometimes,
> though when dealing with groups in the > 75,000 messages range (with
> NNML.)

Perhaps the question should be restated as such:

If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
before.  :-)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Henrik Enberg]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

Virtual subgroups.  Suppose I have foo with 10000 messages in it then I
could create the virtual groups foo1 with messages 0 - 1000, foo2 with
1001 - 2000 and so on (with ^ being able to find parents in other
subgroups).

Henrik
-- 
There's not going to be enough people in the system to take advantage
of people like me.
		-- George W. Bush

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

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Henrik Enberg <henrik@enberg.org> writes:

> Virtual subgroups.  Suppose I have foo with 10000 messages in it then I
> could create the virtual groups foo1 with messages 0 - 1000, foo2 with
> 1001 - 2000 and so on (with ^ being able to find parents in other
> subgroups).

You would still have the overhead to go there and separate these 1K
messages from the other 9K... 

Maybe I'm just dreaming, but there must be a way to optimize things. 

-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

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Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

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Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

The biggest problem to me seems to be disk access and memory usage
(this is in fact an Emacs problem and it's not restricted to
Gnus...). I'd go for some optimization in the way informatio is stored
and retrieved, trying to minimize I/O in big groups (I feel the
performance problem with groups in the 40K+ messages range...). 

Storing the marks on a separate file and using indices for messages
was indeed a good idea. We should try separating all the information
of a group into it's subdirectory (I use nnml).

Implementing Maildir support would also be interesting, since it would
prevent Gnus from copying all the messages to a temporary file before
splitting them. 

-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

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Re: db-backed mail back end

[John S. J. Anderson]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

I offer a semi-serious answer to your joking question, not because I
think it needs one, but because I'd really like to see this happen and
I don't have the skills to do it myself[1]. 8^)=

There are a couple of emailers out there that exist basically as thin
layers over a DB backend, so it might be informative to pull them
apart and see how they work. Pronto is one, I think.

I would contend (after thinking about it for, oh, 30 seconds) that the
Right Way(tm) would be to have one large table for the mails (with
obvious things normalized out to lookup tables, of course), with a
field or fields allowing arbitrary groupings ("Mailing List:", etc.)
Then "groups" as they currently exist in Gnus become views, searches
become much easier to do, etc.

Apologies if this is all so obvious as to not be worth mentioning...

Oh, and because this seems like a good time to mention it: something
like <http://www.mozilla.org/blue-sky/misc/199805/intertwingle.html>
on a Gnus skeleton would be _*awesome*_. 

john.

Footnotes: 
[1]  And I could acquire them, true, but I'd like it sooner than
     that. So...

-- 
It takes an uncommon mind to think of these things.
              --- Calvin

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

jacobs@genehack.org (John S. J. Anderson) writes:

>> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
>> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
>> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
>> before.  :-)
>
> I offer a semi-serious answer to your joking question, not because I
> think it needs one, but because I'd really like to see this happen and
> I don't have the skills to do it myself[1]. 8^)=

I'm serious as mud.  :-)

> Oh, and because this seems like a good time to mention it: something
> like <http://www.mozilla.org/blue-sky/misc/199805/intertwingle.html>
> on a Gnus skeleton would be _*awesome*_. 

That's quite interesting...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Randal L. Schwartz]

>>>>> "Lars" == Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

Lars> jacobs@genehack.org (John S. J. Anderson) writes:
>>> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
>>> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
>>> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
>>> before.  :-)
>> 
>> I offer a semi-serious answer to your joking question, not because I
>> think it needs one, but because I'd really like to see this happen and
>> I don't have the skills to do it myself[1]. 8^)=

Lars> I'm serious as mud.  :-)

Heh.  I was just about to unmark my !-marked article from this list
from nov 1999 about this very subject.  Irony of that.  Maybe it'll
finally happen.

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Daniel Pittman]

On Wed, 23 Jan 2002, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:
> 
>> Gain? For me, the biggest pain with Gnus right now is that there are
>> some scalability issues. I got sick of losing information that had
>> been on mailing lists, so I stopped expiring mail a couple of years
>> ago.
> 
> A db doesn't necessarily give you any performance gain.  

No, it doesn't. 

> If you're not careful with how you set things up, you can get
> arbitrarily awful db performance (and I should know, since I've been
> Oracling a lot these past years. :-))

*grin*  We recently moved from storing our database information, for the
product I work on, from badly designed XML files (ick) to badly designed
SQL databases, resulting in a net performance loss... Heh.

Ahem. Anyway, adding a database is no assurance of better performance,
no. I suspect that you might gain more from using GDBM to hash some of
the overview and marks stuff than using SQL for data storage.

Also, it might be worth hashing the actual article storage in an NNML
group, from one directory to one-plus-n-by-m directories. :)


...but I can't say that I know any of this will work because I am still
too lazy to build the prototype, performance test it, then build the
real thing. 

>> Disk space is sufficiently cheap, even for a laptop, that I don't
>> have space issues with this. Gnus starts to feel a little pain,
>> sometimes, though when dealing with groups in the > 75,000 messages
>> range (with NNML.)
> 
> Perhaps the question should be restated as such:
> 
> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

That's a better question, I think. I never resolved it to my
satisfaction.

        Daniel

-- 
I am, as I said, inspired by the biological phenomena in which chemical
forces are used in repetitious fashion to produce all kinds of weird
effects (one of which is the author).
        -- Richard Feynman, _There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom_

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Russ Allbery]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

> Ahem. Anyway, adding a database is no assurance of better performance,
> no. I suspect that you might gain more from using GDBM to hash some of
> the overview and marks stuff than using SQL for data storage.

Don't use GDBM where you could use Berkeley DB; the latter is much more
robust, less buggy, and quirky.  Version 1 is stable as a rock.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Simon Josefsson]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:
>
>> Gain?  For me, the biggest pain with Gnus right now is that there are
>> some scalability issues. I got sick of losing information that had been
>> on mailing lists, so I stopped expiring mail a couple of years ago.
>
> A db doesn't necessarily give you any performance gain.  If you're not
> careful with how you set things up, you can get arbitrarily awful db
> performance (and I should know, since I've been Oracling a lot these
> past years. :-))

I agree -- a db backend will most likely be slower than nnml.  NNML is
a datbase specialized for its purpose, a generic database will not be
faster.

...unless the backend interface design changes in the process, which
would make some speed improvements possible.

> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

Don't compute things that you don't need.  Entering a group should be
a call to `(switch-to-buffer (generate-new-buffer (format "*Summary
%s*" group))'.  Populating the view should be incremental and
asynchronous.  Threading should optionally be pushed down into the
backend (IMAP supports server-side threading, a database backend could
as well), with utility threading functionality in Gnus.  Etc.

Same goes for the group buffer, btw.  It should be displayed
immediately, and updating status on groups should happen
asynchronously.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Steinar Bang]

>>>>> Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com>:

> Don't compute things that you don't need.  Entering a group should
> be a call to `(switch-to-buffer (generate-new-buffer (format
> "*Summary %s*" group))'.  Populating the view should be incremental
> and asynchronous.  Threading should optionally be pushed down into
> the backend (IMAP supports server-side threading, a database backend
> could as well), with utility threading functionality in Gnus.  Etc.

You don't really need threading for this in Gnus/Emacs.  You just need
something with the conceptual model (_not_ the actual code), of W3C
libwww.
	<http://www.w3.org/Library/>

A short explanation of this model:
 - you create request objects for the URLs you wish to access
   and give them to the libwww.  These request objects provide a
   context for the entire transaction
 - in the libwww the requests are put in a queue
 - the queue is handled by a timer: requests are picked up, and turned
   into actual network requests
 - at some point in time a request causes a response, ie. data start
   arriving on the wire.  To handle this, a "stream" object for
   handling the response is created, and libwww stuffs the arriving
   data down this stream
 - when the request completes, the request object is created

I've used libwww in a GUI-application, and the GUI event loop was the
"engine" for the timer, and was handling input on open network
connection. 

It all worked like a multihreaded application, but everything was
happening inside a single thread.

> Same goes for the group buffer, btw.  It should be displayed
> immediately, and updating status on groups should happen
> asynchronously.

Yup.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Per Abrahamsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

I'm pretty sure both Google and DejaNews before them has pondered the
question carefully.

Seriously, I suspect the core functionality would be the plain text
searches, with the more structured queries being second.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes:

> Seriously, I suspect the core functionality would be the plain text
> searches, with the more structured queries being second.

And for plain text searches, a database is probably not the right
tool.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Mark Milhollan]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> wrote:

>Perhaps the question should be restated as such:
>
>If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
>several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
>would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
>before.  :-)

(This smells like bait, but I'll rise anyway.)

Something already exists -- a news server.  Tens of thousands of groups:
check.  Millions (or even billions) of messages: check.  Existing Gnus
back-end: check.  Searching and indexing facilities: limited in most
servers, though generally easy to extend externally.


/mark

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Mark Milhollan <mlm@mlm.ath.cx> writes:

> Something already exists -- a news server.  Tens of thousands of groups:
> check.  Millions (or even billions) of messages: check.  Existing Gnus
> back-end: check.  Searching and indexing facilities: limited in most
> servers, though generally easy to extend externally.

A news server is a wonderful thing, but putting your mail into it is
painful.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Paul Jarc]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> wrote:
> Perhaps the question should be restated as such:
>
> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
> before.  :-)

Unless the mail backend will directly access a raw disk device, I
think that's still not quite the right question.  The backend will use
some particular software interface for storage - maybe the filesystem,
maybe SQL, whatever.  Making mail fast means making the implementation
behind that storage interface fast.  This is not a Gnus problem, or at
least not entirely a Gnus problem.  Just because Gnus seems slow, it
doesn't mean it's Gnus's fault or that Gnus is the right place to try
to fix it.  If *your* filesystem is slow, *you* should switch to a
different filesystem.  (E.g., ReiserFS is designed to deal with large
directories.  Maybe XFS or JFS would also do well; I dunno.)

Gnus has a choice of interfaces, but not of implementations behind
them.  The best we can do is to choose an interface that *allows* an
implementation meeting certain performance criteria, or possibly to
choose an interface where there are known to be widely-available
implementations meeting certain criteria.


paul

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Russ Allbery]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to several
> hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how would we do
> that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question before.  :-)

Don't store all the articles in one directory; the file system
implementation will kill you.

Preindex the stuff that you usually want to search for.  .overview is sort
of a basic step in that direction, but for truly vast archives you need
something like Glimpse or htdig or whatnot.  You probably also don't want
just one flat index; you want one index on sender, maybe an index on
recipient, a text index of the message, maybe an index on subject
depending on how you use subject, etc.  And you want to limit searches by
a date range.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu> writes:

> Don't store all the articles in one directory; the file system
> implementation will kill you.

Yup.  The obvious solution to that would be using some sort of
hierarchy -- using (say) pairs of digits of the article number as
directory names.  Or something.

"d45/d34/d43/4" for the message "4534434".

Or perhaps the other way around:

"45/34/43/a4" for the message "4534434".

> Preindex the stuff that you usually want to search for.  .overview
> is sort of a basic step in that direction, but for truly vast
> archives you need something like Glimpse or htdig or whatnot.

Speaking over .overview files -- putting a 20kline .overview file into
a buffer and then looking through that buffer for the 2 lines we want
is s-l-o-w.  I see two obvious solutions.

1) Split the .overview file into an .overview directory with several
   1kline .overview files in it
2) Implement the basic .overview "find-the-right-line" thing in C. 

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Daniel Pittman]

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Russ Allbery <rra@stanford.edu> writes:

[...]

>> Preindex the stuff that you usually want to search for.  .overview
>> is sort of a basic step in that direction, but for truly vast
>> archives you need something like Glimpse or htdig or whatnot.
> 
> Speaking over .overview files -- putting a 20kline .overview file into
> a buffer and then looking through that buffer for the 2 lines we want
> is s-l-o-w.  I see two obvious solutions.
> 
> 1) Split the .overview file into an .overview directory with several
>    1kline .overview files in it
> 2) Implement the basic .overview "find-the-right-line" thing in C. 

3) Implement .overview.db, which allows you to find the overview line,
in Lisp `read' format, given the article number. Or whatever.

        Daniel

-- 
One day the white men arrived in ships with wings, which shone in the sun like
knives. They fought hard battles with the Ngola and spat fire at him. They
conquered his salt-pans and the Ngola fled inland to the Lukala river..
        -- Pende oral tradition

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

> 3) Implement .overview.db, which allows you to find the overview line,
> in Lisp `read' format, given the article number. Or whatever.

Or perhaps stick the overview data into a Berkeley DB?  I haven't
actually played with bdb (or any of its brethren) at all -- would
asking a bdb thing for overview files (indexed on article numbers) be
very fast?  And does Emacs have native bdb support?  

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:
>
>> 3) Implement .overview.db, which allows you to find the overview line,
>> in Lisp `read' format, given the article number. Or whatever.
>
> Or perhaps stick the overview data into a Berkeley DB?

I think that NNDB and NNML (not nnml.el) do this.  These are Perl
packages.  Hm.  Ah, googling finds NNDB at least.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> I think that NNDB and NNML (not nnml.el) do this.  These are Perl
> packages.  Hm.  Ah, googling finds NNDB at least.

There is a backend called nndb.el...  Does that have anything to do
with anything?  :-)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:
>
>> I think that NNDB and NNML (not nnml.el) do this.  These are Perl
>> packages.  Hm.  Ah, googling finds NNDB at least.
>
> There is a backend called nndb.el...  Does that have anything to do
> with anything?  :-)

It's for the NNDB Perl program.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Paul Jarc]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> wrote:
> Speaking over .overview files -- putting a 20kline .overview file into
> a buffer and then looking through that buffer for the 2 lines we want
> is s-l-o-w.

nnmaildir stores NOV information in one file per message.  Finding an
article's NOV information is as fast as finding the article itself.


paul

nnmaildir (was: db-backed mail back end)

[Josh Huber]

prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:

> nnmaildir stores NOV information in one file per message.  Finding
> an article's NOV information is as fast as finding the article
> itself.

Indeed, I've been meaning to try nnmaildir out.  Would it be very
painful to migrate from nnml to maildir?  Perhaps I'll try it for just
a couple groups to start with...

ttyl,

-- 
Josh Huber

Re: nnmaildir (was: db-backed mail back end)

[Harry Putnam]

Josh Huber <huber@alum.wpi.edu> writes:

> prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:
>
>> nnmaildir stores NOV information in one file per message.  Finding
>> an article's NOV information is as fast as finding the article
>> itself.
>
> Indeed, I've been meaning to try nnmaildir out.  Would it be very
> painful to migrate from nnml to maildir?  Perhaps I'll try it for just
> a couple groups to start with...

I'd be interested in hearing your results... I had lots of trouble
trying to run both nnml and nnmaildir, but since then Paul J. has
fixed lots of stuff.  I haven't tried running both since before the
fixes though.  Still using nnmaildir alone on a secondary machine, but
my main mail/news, on the main machine, is still non-nnmaildir and
mostly nnml.

I think, if you have some semi-large to large groups you may notice
some significant slowness in initial startup as nnmaildir processes
everything, but after starting, you may find group entry to be
noticably faster.  I don't hnow how much of that applies since Pauls
new release and other fixes.

One thing attractive about nnmaildir to me is that it doesn't care
about adding and subtracting from outside gnus.  It just finds and
processes what is there (in `new') on entry.  Also plays ball nicely
with procmail (like nnml does) since procmail has a builtin
recognition of maildir setup, and knows how to write to nnmaildir
groups.

Re: nnmaildir (was: db-backed mail back end)

[Paul Jarc]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:
> I had lots of trouble trying to run both nnml and nnmaildir, but
> since then Paul J. has fixed lots of stuff.

I think all your troubles were strictly nnmaildir-related, or at least
not related to running nnml as well.

> I think, if you have some semi-large to large groups you may notice
> some significant slowness in initial startup as nnmaildir processes
> everything, but after starting, you may find group entry to be
> noticably faster.  I don't hnow how much of that applies since Pauls
> new release and other fixes.

I haven't made any changes in that area.


paul

Re: nnmaildir (was: db-backed mail back end)

[Harry Putnam]

prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:

> Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:
>> I had lots of trouble trying to run both nnml and nnmaildir, but
>> since then Paul J. has fixed lots of stuff.
>
> I think all your troubles were strictly nnmaildir-related, or at least
> not related to running nnml as well.
>
>> I think, if you have some semi-large to large groups you may notice
>> some significant slowness in initial startup as nnmaildir processes
>> everything, but after starting, you may find group entry to be
>> noticably faster.  I don't hnow how much of that applies since Pauls
>> new release and other fixes.
>
> I haven't made any changes in that area.

I wasn't sure because I'm using the most recent version, but not
really using it hard like before.  I gave up trying to convert news to
mail that way.  So have no large groups to test it on.  My giving up
was not nnmailder related.  Just seemed like too much complication
using suck, procmail and then gnus to get the results I wanted.  Some
where in that chain of events I was generating lots of duplicates.
Not related to the apps I don't think, but my processing scripts.

There is one small thing that I can think of that might be improved
some how.  Those filenames are pretty ridiculous if you do anything
with those files outside gnus.  Seems like a simple incremental
numbering scheme once the messags are brought from `new' would work.

These are a tad unweildy:
1008622921.3916_0.sol.local.lan:2,
1011293422.3800_0.sol.local.lan:2,

Re: nnmaildir

[Paul Jarc]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:
> There is one small thing that I can think of that might be improved
> some how.  Those filenames are pretty ridiculous if you do anything
> with those files outside gnus.  Seems like a simple incremental
> numbering scheme once the messags are brought from `new' would work.

It works as long as you never have two processes moving mail from new/
to cur/ at the same time.  Otherwise, you still need an uncoordinated
way to ensure filenames don't collide.


paul

Re: nnmaildir

[Paul Jarc]

Josh Huber <huber@alum.wpi.edu> wrote:
> prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:
>> nnmaildir stores NOV information in one file per message.  Finding
>> an article's NOV information is as fast as finding the article
>> itself.
>
> Indeed, I've been meaning to try nnmaildir out.

Note that finding the NOV information is also just as *slow* as
finding the article. :)  It's up to you to either keep your groups
small or use a filesystem that can deal with large directories.

> Would it be very painful to migrate from nnml to maildir?

Setting up the server should be pretty straightforward.  Copying the
articles is as easy as B c.  The group parameters for expiry will be
different from what you're used to, but hopefully not too troublesome.


paul

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Sean Neakums]

begin  Russ Allbery quotation:

> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>> If we were to design a mail back end that's supposed to scale to
>> several hundred thousands of messages in thousands of groups -- how
>> would we do that?  Perhaps somebody has pondered this question
>> before.  :-)
>
> Don't store all the articles in one directory; the file system
> implementation will kill you.

Not all filesystems handle large directories poorly.  Both XFS and
ReiserFS on Linux systems handle them well, for example.  If you do
add code to make these directories into some kind of hierarchical
hashed layout, please make it an option.

-- 
 /////////////////  |                  | The spark of a pin
<sneakums@zork.net> |  (require 'gnu)  | dropping, falling feather-like.
 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  |                  | There is too much noise.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Per Abrahamsen]

Sean Neakums <sneakums@zork.net> writes:

> If you do add code to make these directories into some kind of
> hierarchical hashed layout, please make it an option.

Why?  Does ReiserFS and XFS perform poorly on small directories?

Gnus will be less robust if it has to support mutiple filesystem
layouts, so there has to be some real advantage to make up for that.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> writes:

>> If you do add code to make these directories into some kind of
>> hierarchical hashed layout, please make it an option.
>
> Why?  Does ReiserFS and XFS perform poorly on small directories?
>
> Gnus will be less robust if it has to support mutiple filesystem
> layouts, so there has to be some real advantage to make up for that.

On the other hand, this is Gnus.  Options'R'Us.  :-)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Sean Neakums]

begin  Per Abrahamsen quotation:

> Sean Neakums <sneakums@zork.net> writes:
>> If you do add code to make these directories into some kind of
>> hierarchical hashed layout, please make it an option.
>
> Why?  Does ReiserFS and XFS perform poorly on small directories?

No.  But since they handle large ones well, I don't my want my Gnus
jumping through unnecessary hoops.  And having mail groups be a tree
of directories whose names are hex numbers offends me to some degree.

-- 
 /////////////////  |                  | The spark of a pin
<sneakums@zork.net> |  (require 'gnu)  | dropping, falling feather-like.
 \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\  |                  | There is too much noise.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 775 bytes --]

Sean Neakums <sneakums@zork.net> writes:

> begin  Per Abrahamsen quotation:
>
>> Sean Neakums <sneakums@zork.net> writes:
>>> If you do add code to make these directories into some kind of
>>> hierarchical hashed layout, please make it an option.
>>
>> Why?  Does ReiserFS and XFS perform poorly on small directories?
>
> No.  But since they handle large ones well, I don't my want my Gnus
> jumping through unnecessary hoops.  And having mail groups be a tree
> of directories whose names are hex numbers offends me to some degree.

It also makes it a bit harder to 'grep' through messages... :o) (OK,
egrep has '-R'...). 


See you,
-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 268 bytes --]

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Simon Josefsson]

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Per Abrahamsen wrote:

> Sean Neakums <sneakums@zork.net> writes:
> 
> > If you do add code to make these directories into some kind of
> > hierarchical hashed layout, please make it an option.
> 
> Why?  Does ReiserFS and XFS perform poorly on small directories?
> 
> Gnus will be less robust if it has to support mutiple filesystem
> layouts, so there has to be some real advantage to make up for that.

Are the problems in designing large backends really in the backend?   Most 
problems with large backends are due to the design of Gnus, not the 
backends.  NNML scales linearly with the number of messages in the group, 
does it not?  Gnus definitely doesn't scale linearly, so redesigning 
something to get support for large mail/news backends should go into Gnus, 
I think.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Karl Kleinpaste]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:
> NNML scales linearly with the number of messages in the group, does
> it not?  Gnus definitely doesn't scale linearly, so redesigning
> something to get support for large mail/news backends should go into
> Gnus, I think.

I have been wondering about this since this discussion started.  The
slowness of entering a large group of 10K messages, or 100K, has very
little to do with getting at either the overview data or the message
files.  It has to do with threading, scoring, and sorting.  I don't
know what Gnus' threading algorithm is, but I suspect its performance
is at least as poor as O(n log n) and may even be as bad as O(n^2).
It is not clear to me that it is possible to do better than O(n log n)
in the first place, though I haven't contemplated the matter very long.

These are not problems that are addressed at all by the manner in
which articles and indices (overviews or otherwise) are stored, but
rather in how threading is computed, and how scoring is managed.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> These are not problems that are addressed at all by the manner in
> which articles and indices (overviews or otherwise) are stored, but
> rather in how threading is computed, and how scoring is managed.

Try entering a group with an .overview file containing 100000 lines
compared to one that contains 100 line.  The difference is
noticeable. 

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Try entering a group with an .overview file containing 100000 lines
> compared to one that contains 100 line.  The difference is
> noticeable. 

I just compared a 20K group with a 100 group, and the 20K group took
three times as long to enter as the 100 group.  (And I selected the
four most recent articles in each.)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Karl Kleinpaste]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
> I just compared a 20K group with a 100 group, and the 20K group took
> three times as long to enter as the 100 group.  (And I selected the
> four most recent articles in each.)

You and Simon have both made this observation.  I just don't see the
same performance difference.  Perhaps my blobs of articles aren't big
enough.  That's by design, at least in part, as a choice for mental
discipline: I don't want groups larger than I can reasonably think
about.  (I happen to generate per-year archive groups every Jan 1.)

The largest nnml group I have has 4900 articles in it, with a 620K
.overview.  I'm operating on a none-too-recent PII-450 under Linux
with RAID1 (mirrored) IDEs.

When I select only the last 4 articles from it, the time between
hitting RET and seeing a displayed summary is too short to measure by
eyeball against a clock -- less than a second.  How do you measure
4-article entry to a 100-article group, that you can say that the time
varies by a factor of 3?  What are the timings?

When I select the whole group, Gnus says "scoring" within 3 or 4
seconds of beginning entry, which then takes 28 seconds.  Then Gnus
says "Generating summary", which takes well over a minute before the
summary is displayed.  Total time is about 1:43.  That's the sort of
time occupation that worries me.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> When I select only the last 4 articles from it, the time between
> hitting RET and seeing a displayed summary is too short to measure by
> eyeball against a clock -- less than a second.  How do you measure
> 4-article entry to a 100-article group, that you can say that the time
> varies by a factor of 3?  What are the timings?

On my new machine it's 0.25 seconds vs. 0.75 seconds.  :-)

But I suspect it's somewhat slower on less spiffy machines.

> When I select the whole group, Gnus says "scoring" within 3 or 4
> seconds of beginning entry, which then takes 28 seconds.  Then Gnus
> says "Generating summary", which takes well over a minute before the
> summary is displayed.  Total time is about 1:43.  That's the sort of
> time occupation that worries me.

Yes, entering a biiig group takes a long, long time, but that's harder
to do something about.  :-)

But it isn't just the group entry time that might make it worthwhile
to do something about the storage -- it's also the mail splitting.
(And since the Agent uses nnml for its storage, it also affects
article fetching.)  Doing a fetch in an Agent that hasn't been expired
in a few months is slow -- by and order of two or three times slower
than doing it in a freshly expired Agent.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Karl Kleinpaste]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
> On my new machine it's 0.25 seconds vs. 0.75 seconds.  :-)

Let me get this straight -- you're worried about the "slowness" of
something that, even in your own worst case, takes noticeably less
than a second?

> But I suspect it's somewhat slower on less spiffy machines.

Yeah, on my older machine, it might take all of 3 seconds.  A
horrifying and crushing waste of time, to be sure.  I might have long
enough in there to blink 2 or 3 times for no good reason.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> Let me get this straight -- you're worried about the "slowness" of
> something that, even in your own worst case, takes noticeably less
> than a second?

That was as 20K group.  I'm looking for 200K group solutions.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Karl Kleinpaste]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
> That was as 20K group.  I'm looking for 200K group solutions.

Do you have reason to believe that scaling 20K->200K (10x) will be
substantially worse than scaling 100->20K (200x)?

You only had a 3x time factor in the case already seen, for a 200x
content increase.  Why is there reason to believe that scaling up
again by a mere 10x will be substantially worse?  If by some fluke you
should find a full 10x time cost for the 10x size increase of 20K->200K,
you will encounter a 4-article entry to a 200K group costing a
stunning...7.5 seconds (based on your 0.25 and 0.75 timings).

That's about long enough to take a leisurely sip of <insert beverage>.

Maybe 10x is a reasonable scaling expectation in 20K->200K, maybe not.
Maybe filesystem overhead, or the system's control of Emacs' virtual
memory behavior, will make it much worse.  I don't know.  Maybe it'll
only cost 3x time to scale size by 10x.  It only cost 3x time for a
200x size before.

I'm not trying to be difficult or argumentative.  I'm just trying to
figure out what problem you're really trying to solve.  So far, I see
some nebulous idea that "it's slow," without being able to qualify,
much less quantify, where the problem lies.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> You only had a 3x time factor in the case already seen, for a 200x
> content increase.  Why is there reason to believe that scaling up
> again by a mere 10x will be substantially worse?  If by some fluke you
> should find a full 10x time cost for the 10x size increase of 20K->200K,
> you will encounter a 4-article entry to a 200K group costing a
> stunning...7.5 seconds (based on your 0.25 and 0.75 timings).

Yes.  And that's not acceptable.  If it takes 7.5 seconds to enter a
group to look at the one new article, then that's too slow.  Much,
much, much too slow.

> I'm not trying to be difficult or argumentative.  I'm just trying to
> figure out what problem you're really trying to solve.  So far, I see
> some nebulous idea that "it's slow," without being able to qualify,
> much less quantify, where the problem lies.

Fact is that it's too slow.  And finding out possible solutions to the
problem is the reason for this thread.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Karl Kleinpaste]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
> Yes.  And that's not acceptable.  If it takes 7.5 seconds to enter a
> group to look at the one new article, then that's too slow.  Much,
> much, much too slow.

Sorry, no, I don't buy it.

Every day, people use Gnus to enter NNTP groups with 100, 500, 1000,
or 2000 new articles to scan, sort, and maybe even read a few.  Every
time they do this, they spend tens of seconds while threading,
scoring, sorting, and summary generation occur.  This sort of use is
of the all-day-every-day kind.

Yet you want to optimize the case that's so far out to the edge, I
doubt there's anyone that even actually _has_ a single group with 200K
messages in it, against which to test the planned optimization.  (Does
anyone?  Really, right now?  Does anyone have a group, or does anyone
plan to create a group, that goes beyond, say, 30K messages?)  You're
optimizing this bizarre, unusual, never-seen case, while the case that
I've run into at least a dozen times today alone haunts us, where
getting into a big, busy, NNTP group costs me minutes of computation
time while *Summary* is generated.

There's certainly no harm to making Gnus able to handle the storage
needs of gargantuan archives.  Sure, knock yourself out.  But that's
not a problem currently being faced by more than maybe 5 people on the
planet, whereas every single Gnus user has to worry over the entry
time cost of a busy group with 900 new messages.

Ohwell, attitudes vary, that's all.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

>> Yes.  And that's not acceptable.  If it takes 7.5 seconds to enter a
>> group to look at the one new article, then that's too slow.  Much,
>> much, much too slow.
>
> Sorry, no, I don't buy it.
>
> Every day, people use Gnus to enter NNTP groups with 100, 500, 1000,
> or 2000 new articles to scan, sort, and maybe even read a few.  Every
> time they do this, they spend tens of seconds while threading,
> scoring, sorting, and summary generation occur.  This sort of use is
> of the all-day-every-day kind.
>
> Yet you want to optimize the case that's so far out to the edge, I
> doubt there's anyone that even actually _has_ a single group with 200K
> messages in it, against which to test the planned optimization.

I get the feeling that you think that if we make it possible to have
big groups, that'll make the rest of Gnus slower.  Or that if we spend
time making one part of Gnus faster, that we can't spend time making
other parts of Gnus faster.  That's a kinda odd thing to focus on.

I've just re-implemented `gnus-agent-get-undownloaded-list', so that
Gnus now spends 0.04 seconds in that function instead of 2.3 seconds
when entering a big group.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Daniel Pittman]

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Karl Kleinpaste wrote:
> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>> Yes.  And that's not acceptable.  If it takes 7.5 seconds to enter a
>> group to look at the one new article, then that's too slow.  Much,
>> much, much too slow.
> 
> Sorry, no, I don't buy it.

Lucky you. :)

> Every day, people use Gnus to enter NNTP groups with 100, 500, 1000,
> or 2000 new articles to scan, sort, and maybe even read a few.  

Sure. I also enter some groups with, say, two messages to read, like the
ding list just now... that take seven to ten seconds to enter.

> Every time they do this, they spend tens of seconds while threading,
> scoring, sorting, and summary generation occur. This sort of use is of
> the all-day-every-day kind.

It would be /great/ for it to be faster, especially in groups where
there are ticked, visible messages from a long time ago.

> Yet you want to optimize the case that's so far out to the edge, I
> doubt there's anyone that even actually _has_ a single group with 200K
> messages in it, against which to test the planned optimization.  (Does
> anyone?  Really, right now?  

Nope. I peak at > 90,000 messages at the moment, with the ten most
active groups running down from there to ~ 12,000 messages.

> Does anyone have a group, or does anyone plan to create a group, that
> goes beyond, say, 30K messages?) 

Yes.

[...]

> There's certainly no harm to making Gnus able to handle the storage
> needs of gargantuan archives.  Sure, knock yourself out.  But that's
> not a problem currently being faced by more than maybe 5 people on the
> planet, whereas every single Gnus user has to worry over the entry
> time cost of a busy group with 900 new messages.

That would be something that would be good to address first. Don't
mistake it for the only problem, though.

        Daniel

-- 
Sticks and stones are hard on bones.
Aimed with angry art, Words can sting like anything. 
But silence breaks the heart. 
        -- Phyllis McGinley

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Karl Kleinpaste]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:
> I peak at > 90,000 messages at the moment, with the ten most
> active groups running down from there to ~ 12,000 messages.

When you have a few spare moments, it would be instructive to see your
timings for a 4-article entry to a group with 100, 20K, and 90K messages.

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
> I get the feeling that you think that if we make it possible to have
> big groups, that'll make the rest of Gnus slower.  Or that if we spend
> time making one part of Gnus faster, that we can't spend time making
> other parts of Gnus faster.

No, that's not even remotely what I'm thinking, but if I'm being that
badly interpreted, I think I had best find something else to do.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

>> I get the feeling that you think that if we make it possible to have
>> big groups, that'll make the rest of Gnus slower.  Or that if we spend
>> time making one part of Gnus faster, that we can't spend time making
>> other parts of Gnus faster.
>
> No, that's not even remotely what I'm thinking, but if I'm being that
> badly interpreted, I think I had best find something else to do.

I was kinda hoping you'd instead explain to me what I'm
misunderstanding.  :-/

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:
>
>>> I get the feeling that you think that if we make it possible to have
>>> big groups, that'll make the rest of Gnus slower.  Or that if we spend
>>> time making one part of Gnus faster, that we can't spend time making
>>> other parts of Gnus faster.
>>
>> No, that's not even remotely what I'm thinking, but if I'm being that
>> badly interpreted, I think I had best find something else to do.
>
> I was kinda hoping you'd instead explain to me what I'm
> misunderstanding.  :-/

I think he wants you to speed up "Generating summary buffer".  In my
normal Gnus usage, this is also the most time-consuming part.  But it
has already improved as opposed to 3 or 4 years ago.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Kai.Grossjohann@cs.uni-dortmund.de (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> I think he wants you to speed up "Generating summary buffer".  In my
> normal Gnus usage, this is also the most time-consuming part.

I got to take that back.  It seems I'm not yet used to the spiffy 1.4
GHz Athlon thingy that I've got under my desk now.  "Generating
summary buffer" is not faster than "Fetching headers" at the moment.
(I tried entering the nnimap:INBOX.auto.gnus and gnu.emacs.help
groups.  With C-u RET RET.  Both ended up with approx 1800 lines.)

I can imagine that people with slower machines will really notice
that part.  I guess that these people will see that scoring and
threading are quick, but generating the summary buffer is pretty
slow.  Is there anything that can be done about this?

> But it has already improved as opposed to 3 or 4 years ago.

Could be this is because of the new machine...

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> I can imagine that people with slower machines will really notice
> that part.  I guess that these people will see that scoring and
> threading are quick, but generating the summary buffer is pretty
> slow.  Is there anything that can be done about this?

Are you sure that it's the summary buffer generation that's slow?  Try
ELPing and post the results...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Are you sure that it's the summary buffer generation that's slow?  Try
> ELPing and post the results...

I've now entered nnimap:INBOX.auto.gnus and here are the results.
Hm.  What do they tell us?  Maybe that the summary buffer generation
isn't so slow after all?  Hm.

/----
| Function Name                                           Call Count  Elapsed Time  Average Time
| ======================================================  ==========  ============  ============
| gnus-retrieve-headers                                   2           64.930867     32.4654335
| gnus-topic-select-group                                 1           49.303124     49.303124
| gnus-group-select-group                                 1           49.303064     49.303064
| gnus-group-read-group                                   1           49.303052     49.303052
| gnus-summary-read-group                                 1           49.303004     49.303004
| gnus-summary-read-group-1                               1           49.30299      49.30299
| gnus-select-newsgroup                                   1           35.786196     35.786196
| gnus-fetch-headers                                      1           33.866834     33.866834
| gnus-cache-retrieve-headers                             1           32.465541     32.465541
| nnimap-retrieve-headers                                 1           32.465148     32.465148
| gnus-summary-prepare                                    1           12.402957     12.402957
| gnus-sort-threads-1                                     1052        12.283426     0.0116762604
| gnus-summary-prepare-threads                            1           11.147104     11.147104
| gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy                             4061        3.3280859999  0.0008195237
| gnus-dd-mmm                                             1785        2.2941050000  0.0012852128
| gnus-get-newsgroup-headers-xover                        1           1.40016       1.40016
| gnus-summary-from-or-to-or-newsgroups                   1785        1.1426499999  0.0006401400
| gnus-sort-threads                                       1           1.037662      1.037662
| gnus-articles-to-read                                   1           1.024266      1.024266
| gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number                  3015        1.0074100000  0.0003341326
| gnus-thread-highest-number                              6030        0.8809909999  0.0001461013
| gnus-build-sparse-threads                               1           0.741911      0.741911
| gnus-set-work-buffer                                    4063        0.6677200000  0.0001643416
| gnus-run-hooks                                          1792        0.3971829999  0.0002216422
| gnus-summary-highlight-line                             1783        0.3743940000  0.0002099798
| gnus-build-old-threads                                  1           0.3319879999  0.3319879999
| gnus-build-get-header                                   237         0.3241400000  0.0013676793
| gnus-possibly-score-headers                             1           0.288972      0.288972
| gnus-score-headers                                      1           0.28717       0.28717
| gnus-request-group                                      1           0.27203       0.27203
| nnimap-request-group                                    1           0.271948      0.271948
| nnimap-request-update-info-internal                     1           0.270044      0.270044
| gnus-score-string                                       1           0.258248      0.258248
| nnimap-retrieve-which-headers                           1           0.19694       0.19694
| gnus-correct-substring                                  716         0.1953960000  0.0002728994
| gnus-summary-limit-children                             2282        0.1902700000  8.337...e-05
| gnus-gather-threads-by-subject                          1           0.121053      0.121053
| gnus-extract-address-components                         1785        0.1111819999  6.228...e-05
| gnus-put-text-property                                  3570        0.1019420000  2.855...e-05
| gnus-summary-initial-limit                              1           0.072339      0.072339
| gnus-set-difference                                     4           0.070964      0.017741
| gnus-make-threads                                       1           0.056748      0.056748
| gnus-thread-loop-p                                      1814        0.0432050000  2.381...e-05
| gnus-update-missing-marks                               1           0.042941      0.042941
| gnus-cut-threads                                        1           0.039511      0.039511
| gnus-member-of-range                                    1620        0.0352010000  2.172...e-05
| gnus-put-text-property-excluding-characters-with-faces  1783        0.0317080000  1.778...e-05
| gnus-char-width                                         11456       0.0247400000  2.159...e-06
| nnimap-retrieve-headers-from-file                       1           0.023779      0.023779
| gnus-score-string<                                      8729        0.0174639999  2.000...e-06
| gnus-compress-sequence                                  8           0.012047      0.001505875
| gnus-sorted-complement                                  2           0.009498      0.004749
| gnus-uncompress-range                                   8           0.00879       0.00109875
| gnus-point-at-eol                                       1814        0.0069329999  3.821...e-06
| nnimap-possibly-change-group                            3           0.005339      0.0017796666
| gnus-summary-setup-buffer                               1           0.005138      0.005138
| gnus-killed-articles                                    1           0.004538      0.004538
| gnus-sorted-intersection                                1           0.003625      0.003625
| gnus-group-find-parameter                               8           0.003045      0.000380625
| gnus-message                                            13          0.0030139999  0.0002318461
| gnus-group-topic-parameters                             8           0.002541      0.000317625
| gnus-summary-mode                                       1           0.002367      0.002367
| gnus-adjust-marked-articles                             1           0.002138      0.002138
| gnus-group-fast-parameter                               6           0.00207       0.000345
| gnus-summary-auto-select-subject                        1           0.00199       0.00199
| gnus-group-decoded-name                                 6           0.001987      0.0003311666
| gnus-summary-first-unread-subject                       1           0.00198       0.00198
| gnus-update-summary-mark-positions                      2           0.001857      0.0009285
| gnus-summary-first-subject                              2           0.001839      0.0009195
| gnus-topic-hierarchical-parameters                      8           0.001836      0.0002295
| gnus-all-score-files                                    1           0.001781      0.001781
| gnus-summary-insert-line                                2           0.001654      0.000827
| gnus-uncompress-sequence                                1           0.00163       0.00163
| gnus-group-name-decode                                  6           0.0014379999  0.0002396666
| gnus-topic-parent-topic                                 152         0.0013550000  8.914...e-06
| nnimap-group-overview-filename                          3           0.001226      0.0004086666
| gnus-current-topics                                     8           0.001199      0.000149875
| gnus-remassoc                                           41          0.00101       2.463...e-05
| nnimap-dont-use-nov-p                                   1           0.000932      0.000932
| gnus-set-sorted-intersection                            1           0.000907      0.000907
| gnus-summary-setup-default-charset                      1           0.000849      0.000849
| gnus-score-load-files                                   1           0.000774      0.000774
| gnus-score-load-file                                    8           0.0007219999  9.024...e-05
| gnus-update-format-specifications                       2           0.000662      0.000331
| gnus-point-at-bol                                       190         0.0006359999  3.347...e-06
| gnus-score-find-hierarchical                            1           0.000608      0.000608
| gnus-find-method-for-group                              13          0.000502      3.861...e-05
| gnus-last-element                                       1           0.000496      0.000496
| gnus-set-mode-line                                      1           0.00049       0.00049
| gnus-topic-parameters                                   16          0.0004779999  2.987...e-05
| gnus-continuum-version                                  4           0.000464      0.000116
| gnus-parameter-charset                                  1           0.000462      0.000462
| gnus-group-name-charset                                 6           0.000447      7.450...e-05
| gnus-group-auto-expirable-p                             1           0.000446      0.000446
| gnus-topic-find-topology                                56          0.0004439999  7.928...e-06
| gnus-summary-set-local-parameters                       1           0.000432      0.000432
| gnus-set-global-variables                               4           0.000402      0.0001005
| gnus-parameter-ignored-charsets                         1           0.000364      0.000364
| gnus-score-file-name                                    8           0.0003459999  4.324...e-05
| gnus-sort-gathered-threads                              1           0.000343      0.000343
| gnus-configure-windows                                  1           0.000338      0.000338
| nnimap-mark-permanent-p                                 14          0.000336      2.399...e-05
| gnus-update-alist-soft                                  6           0.0003279999  5.466...e-05
| gnus-summary-buffer-name                                1           0.000314      0.000314
| nnimap-mark-to-flag                                     27          0.0002650000  9.814...e-06
| gnus-update-read-articles                               1           0.000265      0.000265
| gnus-apply-kill-file                                    1           0.000258      0.000258
| gnus-cache-articles-in-group                            1           0.000251      0.000251
| gnus-make-sort-function                                 1           0.000249      0.000249
| gnus-current-topic                                      8           0.000239      2.9875e-05
| gnus-goto-colon                                         6           0.000233      3.883...e-05
| gnus-byte-compile                                       1           0.000226      0.000226
| gnus-summary-position-point                             5           0.000221      4.420...e-05
| gnus-group-prefixed-name                                4           0.00022       5.5e-05
| gnus-score-load-score-alist                             4           0.000188      4.7e-05
| gnus-configure-frame                                    2           0.000178      8.9e-05
| nnmail-message-id                                       4           0.000164      4.1e-05
| gnus-group-goto-group                                   8           0.0001609999  2.012...e-05
| gnus-cache-file-name                                    1           0.000159      0.000159
| gnus-group-prev-group                                   1           0.000148      0.000148
| nnheader-nov-delete-outside-range                       1           0.000136      0.000136
| gnus-server-to-method                                   9           0.0001309999  1.455...e-05
| gnus-newsgroup-kill-file                                2           0.0001309999  6.549...e-05
| gnus-group-next-unread-group                            1           0.000127      0.000127
| gnus-group-search-forward                               1           0.00011       0.00011
| nnheader-find-nov-line                                  2           0.0001099999  5.499...e-05
| gnus-make-hashtable                                     2           0.000109      5.45e-05
| gnus-check-server                                       1           0.000105      0.000105
| gnus-group-get-parameter                                12          0.0001030000  8.583...e-06
| gnus-get-buffer-create                                  3           0.0001029999  3.433...e-05
| gnus-summary-make-local-variables                       2           0.0001009999  5.049...e-05
| gnus-server-opened                                      1           9.6e-05       9.6e-05
| gnus-parameters-get-parameter                           2           9.5e-05       4.75e-05
| gnus-remove-from-range                                  2           8.999...e-05  4.499...e-05
| gnus-summary-set-display-table                          1           8.8e-05       8.8e-05
| gnus-make-directory                                     1           8.8e-05       8.8e-05
| gnus-agent-mode                                         1           8.7e-05       8.7e-05
| gnus-agent-get-undownloaded-list                        1           8.3e-05       8.3e-05
| gnus-buffer-live-p                                      8           8.1e-05       1.0125e-05
| gnus-all-windows-visible-p                              1           7.9e-05       7.9e-05
| gnus-summary-show-thread                                1           7.3e-05       7.3e-05
| gnus-copy-sequence                                      9           7.000...e-05  7.777...e-06
| gnus-group-parameter-value                              15          6.900...e-05  4.600...e-06
| gnus-methods-using                                      4           6.6e-05       1.65e-05
| gnus-virtual-group-p                                    1           6.1e-05       6.1e-05
| gnus-group-position-point                               1           6e-05         6e-05
| gnus-mailing-list-mode                                  1           6e-05         6e-05
| gnus-newsgroup-savable-name                             7           5.9e-05       8.428...e-06
| nnimap-mark-to-flag-1                                   27          5.800...e-05  2.148...e-06
| gnus-short-group-name                                   1           5.5e-05       5.5e-05
| nnimap-server-opened                                    1           5e-05         5e-05
| gnus-get-buffer-window                                  1           4.8e-05       4.8e-05
| gnus-server-equal                                       4           4.5e-05       1.125e-05
| gnus-thread-sort-by-number                              15          4.399...e-05  2.933...e-06
| nnheader-set-temp-buffer                                1           4e-05         4e-05
| gnus-group-topic-p                                      1           3.9e-05       3.9e-05
| gnus-article-mark-to-type                               21          3.800...e-05  1.809...e-06
| nnheader-translate-file-chars                           23          3.6e-05       1.565...e-06
| gnus-summary-make-menu-bar                              1           3.2e-05       3.2e-05
| gnus-group-topic-name                                   1           3e-05         3e-05
| gnus-agent-get-function                                 3           2.9e-05       9.666...e-06
| gnus-add-minor-mode                                     1           2.6e-05       2.6e-05
| gnus-get-function                                       1           2.5e-05       2.5e-05
| gnus-undo-register                                      1           2.5e-05       2.5e-05
| gnus-turn-off-edit-menu                                 1           2.3e-05       2.3e-05
| gnus-group-quit-config                                  1           2.3e-05       2.3e-05
| gnus-list-of-unread-articles                            1           2e-05         2e-05
| gnus-visual-p                                           6           1.999...e-05  3.333...e-06
| gnus-info-set-entry                                     6           1.999...e-05  3.333...e-06
| gnus-get-unread-articles-in-group                       1           1.8e-05       1.8e-05
| gnus-undo-boundary                                      5           1.7e-05       3.4e-06
| gnus-group-group-name                                   1           1.7e-05       1.7e-05
| gnus-group-real-prefix                                  1           1.7e-05       1.7e-05
| gnus-use-long-file-name                                 8           1.600...e-05  2.000...e-06
| gnus-undo-register-1                                    1           1.6e-05       1.6e-05
| gnus-mode-line-buffer-identification                    1           1.6e-05       1.6e-05
| nnimap-mark-to-predicate                                6           1.499...e-05  2.499...e-06
| gnus-create-hash-size                                   2           1.4e-05       7e-06
| gnus-online                                             5           1.399...e-05  2.799...e-06
| nnoo-server-opened                                      1           1.3e-05       1.3e-05
| gnus-frames-on-display-list                             1           1.2e-05       1.2e-05
| nnimap-possibly-change-server                           3           1.1e-05       3.666...e-06
| gnus-simplify-mode-line                                 1           8e-06         8e-06
| gnus-expand-group-parameters                            2           8e-06         4e-06
| gnus-score-find-alist                                   1           6e-06         6e-06
| gnus-home-score-file                                    2           6e-06         3e-06
| gnus-agent-method-p                                     1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-window-to-buffer-helper                            2           4.999...e-06  2.499...e-06
| gnus-windows-old-to-new                                 1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-make-sort-function-1                               1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-delete-if                                          1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-summary-make-tool-bar                              1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-server-status                                      1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-summary-maybe-hide-threads                         1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-make-thread-indent-array                           1           3e-06         3e-06
| nnoo-current-server                                     1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-agent-summary-make-menu-bar                        1           2e-06         2e-06
| gnus-mailing-list-make-menu-bar                         1           2e-06         2e-06
| gnus-set-default-directory                              1           2e-06         2e-06
| nnimap-before-find-minmax-bugworkaround                 1           2e-06         2e-06
\----


kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Kai.Grossjohann@cs.uni-dortmund.de (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> I've now entered nnimap:INBOX.auto.gnus and here are the results.

Here are the results for gnu.emacs.help (with C-u RET RET):

/----
| Function Name                                           Call Count  Elapsed Time  Average Time
| ======================================================  ==========  ============  ============
| gnus-retrieve-headers                                   3           364.20543699  121.40181233
| gnus-topic-select-group                                 1           206.129288    206.129288
| gnus-group-select-group                                 1           206.129225    206.129225
| gnus-group-read-group                                   1           206.129214    206.129214
| gnus-summary-read-group                                 1           206.129169    206.129169
| gnus-summary-read-group-1                               1           206.129154    206.129154
| gnus-select-newsgroup                                   1           192.549928    192.549928
| gnus-fetch-headers                                      1           186.317282    186.317282
| gnus-cache-retrieve-headers                             1           182.575129    182.575129
| gnus-agent-retrieve-headers                             1           180.577227    180.577227
| gnus-agent-save-alist                                   1           157.608388    157.608388
| gnus-set-difference                                     3           20.2174       6.7391333333
| gnus-summary-prepare                                    1           11.530258     11.530258
| gnus-summary-prepare-threads                            1           9.125797      9.125797
| gnus-get-newsgroup-headers-xover                        1           3.741023      3.741023
| gnus-build-old-threads                                  1           3.2381729999  3.2381729999
| gnus-build-get-header                                   151         3.2306279999  0.0213948874
| gnus-group-jump-to-group                                1           2.617927      2.617927
| gnus-dd-mmm                                             1768        2.5379900000  0.0014355147
| gnus-cache-braid-nov                                    1           1.892906      1.892906
| gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy                             4181        1.8558889999  0.0004438863
| gnus-sort-threads-1                                     902         1.7841550000  0.0019779988
| gnus-sort-threads                                       1           1.72618       1.72618
| gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number                  4627        1.6714319999  0.0003612344
| nntp-accept-process-output                              130         1.309013      0.0100693307
| gnus-possibly-score-headers                             1           1.3010519999  1.3010519999
| gnus-articles-to-read                                   1           1.300275      1.300275
| gnus-score-headers                                      1           1.2994379999  1.2994379999
| gnus-score-string                                       1           1.148072      1.148072
| gnus-thread-highest-number                              9254        1.0903829999  0.0001178282
| nntp-retrieve-headers                                   1           1.052888      1.052888
| nntp-retrieve-headers-with-xover                        1           1.052777      1.052777
| nntp-send-xover-command                                 1           1.040614      1.040614
| nntp-send-command-nodelete                              1           1.040569      1.040569
| gnus-agent-braid-nov                                    1           0.970894      0.970894
| gnus-summary-from-or-to-or-newsgroups                   1768        0.7955190000  0.0004499541
| gnus-run-hooks                                          1775        0.7471350000  0.0004209211
| gnus-summary-highlight-line                             1766        0.7037719999  0.0003985118
| gnus-build-sparse-threads                               1           0.6824209999  0.6824209999
| gnus-extract-address-components                         1768        0.6443449999  0.0003644485
| nnheader-insert-file-contents                           4           0.621835      0.15545875
| gnus-member-of-range                                    1688        0.5000059999  0.0002962120
| gnus-make-threads                                       1           0.498406      0.498406
| gnus-make-hashtable                                     2           0.4010209999  0.2005104999
| gnus-check-server                                       1           0.269944      0.269944
| gnus-open-server                                        1           0.268662      0.268662
| nntp-open-server                                        1           0.268606      0.268606
| nntp-open-connection                                    1           0.266418      0.266418
| gnus-update-missing-marks                               1           0.218805      0.218805
| gnus-gather-threads-by-subject                          1           0.15905       0.15905
| gnus-set-work-buffer                                    4183        0.1484209999  3.548...e-05
| gnus-agent-load-alist                                   1           0.122237      0.122237
| gnus-agent-read-file                                    1           0.122044      0.122044
| gnus-summary-limit-children                             1986        0.1206469999  6.074...e-05
| gnus-sorted-complement                                  3           0.1122239999  0.037408
| nnheader-find-nov-line                                  1           0.08668       0.08668
| gnus-sorted-intersection                                2           0.064246      0.032123
| gnus-correct-substring                                  336         0.0623740000  0.0001856369
| gnus-summary-initial-limit                              1           0.056863      0.056863
| gnus-score-string<                                      14155       0.0487400000  3.443...e-06
| gnus-request-group                                      1           0.030841      0.030841
| nntp-request-group                                      1           0.030745      0.030745
| gnus-killed-articles                                    1           0.02524       0.02524
| gnus-agent-save-history                                 1           0.023906      0.023906
| gnus-put-text-property-excluding-characters-with-faces  1766        0.0202220000  1.145...e-05
| gnus-cut-threads                                        1           0.019795      0.019795
| gnus-put-text-property                                  3536        0.0175920000  4.975...e-06
| gnus-point-at-eol                                       1864        0.0174220000  9.346...e-06
| gnus-agent-open-history                                 1           0.015814      0.015814
| gnus-uncompress-range                                   6           0.014541      0.0024235
| gnus-thread-loop-p                                      1387        0.0143829999  1.036...e-05
| nntp-decode-text                                        4           0.009171      0.00229275
| nntp-open-network-stream                                1           0.006867      0.006867
| gnus-char-width                                         5376        0.0059320000  1.103...e-06
| gnus-message                                            13          0.0054610000  0.0004200769
| gnus-adjust-marked-articles                             1           0.003488      0.003488
| nnheader-message                                        121         0.0034460000  2.847...e-05
| gnus-group-find-parameter                               8           0.003428      0.0004285
| gnus-summary-setup-buffer                               1           0.003197      0.003197
| nntp-send-mode-reader                                   1           0.003043      0.003043
| gnus-group-topic-parameters                             8           0.0029519999  0.0003689999
| nntp-send-authinfo                                      1           0.002534      0.002534
| gnus-parse-netrc                                        1           0.002478      0.002478
| gnus-group-fast-parameter                               6           0.002298      0.0003830000
| gnus-summary-mode                                       1           0.002208      0.002208
| gnus-summary-auto-select-subject                        1           0.001927      0.001927
| gnus-group-decoded-name                                 6           0.001923      0.0003205
| gnus-summary-first-unread-subject                       1           0.001917      0.001917
| nntp-kill-buffer                                        1           0.001916      0.001916
| gnus-topic-hierarchical-parameters                      8           0.001882      0.00023525
| gnus-summary-first-subject                              2           0.001782      0.000891
| gnus-update-summary-mark-positions                      2           0.001683      0.0008415
| gnus-cache-articles-in-group                            1           0.001584      0.001584
| gnus-all-score-files                                    1           0.001579      0.001579
| gnus-group-name-decode                                  6           0.001533      0.0002555000
| gnus-summary-insert-line                                2           0.001459      0.0007295
| gnus-topic-parent-topic                                 152         0.0013930000  9.164...e-06
| gnus-current-topics                                     8           0.0012380000  0.0001547500
| gnus-set-sorted-intersection                            1           0.00094       0.00094
| nntp-find-connection-buffer                             131         0.0008610000  6.572...e-06
| gnus-summary-setup-default-charset                      1           0.000818      0.000818
| gnus-score-load-files                                   1           0.000773      0.000773
| gnus-score-load-file                                    8           0.000706      8.825e-05
| gnus-update-format-specifications                       2           0.000694      0.000347
| gnus-point-at-bol                                       167         0.0006179999  3.700...e-06
| gnus-current-topic                                      8           0.000608      7.6e-05
| gnus-group-auto-expirable-p                             1           0.000576      0.000576
| gnus-agent-article-name                                 3           0.0005729999  0.0001909999
| gnus-sort-gathered-threads                              1           0.000498      0.000498
| gnus-continuum-version                                  4           0.0004930000  0.0001232500
| gnus-set-mode-line                                      1           0.000471      0.000471
| gnus-last-element                                       1           0.00047       0.00047
| gnus-topic-parameters                                   16          0.0004689999  2.931...e-05
| gnus-score-find-hierarchical                            1           0.000462      0.000462
| gnus-topic-find-topology                                56          0.0004489999  8.017...e-06
| gnus-summary-set-local-parameters                       1           0.000447      0.000447
| gnus-parameter-charset                                  1           0.000439      0.000439
| gnus-group-goto-group                                   9           0.000395      4.388...e-05
| gnus-score-file-name                                    8           0.0003760000  4.700...e-05
| gnus-parameter-ignored-charsets                         1           0.000354      0.000354
| gnus-configure-windows                                  1           0.000346      0.000346
| gnus-agent-group-path                                   3           0.0003050000  0.0001016666
| gnus-goto-colon                                         6           0.000296      4.933...e-05
| gnus-group-name-charset                                 6           0.000287      4.783...e-05
| gnus-make-directory                                     2           0.0002839999  0.0001419999
| gnus-cache-file-name                                    3           0.000281      9.366...e-05
| gnus-apply-kill-file                                    1           0.000277      0.000277
| gnus-summary-buffer-name                                1           0.000274      0.000274
| gnus-set-global-variables                               3           0.000249      8.3e-05
| gnus-make-sort-function                                 1           0.000248      0.000248
| gnus-byte-compile                                       1           0.000225      0.000225
| gnus-summary-position-point                             5           0.000221      4.420...e-05
| gnus-get-buffer-create                                  5           0.0002199999  4.4e-05
| gnus-configure-frame                                    2           0.000187      9.35e-05
| gnus-score-load-score-alist                             4           0.00018       4.5e-05
| gnus-newsgroup-kill-file                                2           0.000147      7.35e-05
| gnus-agent-enter-history                                1           0.000146      0.000146
| gnus-update-read-articles                               1           0.00014       0.00014
| nntp-read-server-type                                   1           0.000131      0.000131
| nnoo-change-server                                      1           0.00013       0.00013
| nnheader-init-server-buffer                             2           0.000116      5.8e-05
| gnus-find-method-for-group                              14          0.000115      8.214...e-06
| gnus-summary-make-local-variables                       2           0.000115      5.75e-05
| gnus-group-position-point                               1           0.000112      0.000112
| nntp-possibly-change-group                              2           0.0001099999  5.499...e-05
| gnus-agent-mode                                         1           0.000109      0.000109
| gnus-agent-lib-file                                     1           9.3e-05       9.3e-05
| gnus-summary-set-display-table                          1           9e-05         9e-05
| nntp-server-opened                                      4           8.8e-05       2.2e-05
| gnus-buffer-live-p                                      12          8.7e-05       7.25e-06
| gnus-group-get-parameter                                10          8.000...e-05  8.000...e-06
| gnus-all-windows-visible-p                              1           8e-05         8e-05
| gnus-thread-sort-by-number                              28          7.899...e-05  2.821...e-06
| nnheader-translate-file-chars                           19          7.699...e-05  4.052...e-06
| gnus-summary-show-thread                                1           7.3e-05       7.3e-05
| nntp-make-process-buffer                                1           7.1e-05       7.1e-05
| gnus-parameters-get-parameter                           2           7e-05         3.5e-05
| gnus-get-function                                       2           6.8e-05       3.4e-05
| gnus-agent-get-function                                 4           6.500...e-05  1.625...e-05
| nnheader-concat                                         4           6.3e-05       1.575e-05
| nnoo-push-server                                        1           6.3e-05       6.3e-05
| nnheader-set-temp-buffer                                1           6.2e-05       6.2e-05
| gnus-article-mark-to-type                               21          5.999...e-05  2.857...e-06
| gnus-server-opened                                      1           5.8e-05       5.8e-05
| gnus-newsgroup-savable-name                             7           5.6e-05       8e-06
| gnus-short-group-name                                   1           5.2e-05       5.2e-05
| gnus-online                                             6           4.999...e-05  8.333...e-06
| gnus-get-buffer-window                                  1           4.9e-05       4.9e-05
| nnheader-replace-duplicate-chars-in-string              3           4.700...e-05  1.566...e-05
| gnus-group-topic-p                                      1           4.1e-05       4.1e-05
| gnus-agent-get-undownloaded-list                        1           4.1e-05       4.1e-05
| gnus-ephemeral-group-p                                  1           3.9e-05       3.9e-05
| gnus-group-parameter-value                              8           3.4e-05       4.25e-06
| gnus-summary-make-menu-bar                              1           3.2e-05       3.2e-05
| gnus-group-topic-name                                   1           3.1e-05       3.1e-05
| gnus-undo-register                                      1           2.6e-05       2.6e-05
| gnus-use-long-file-name                                 10          2.5e-05       2.5e-06
| gnus-turn-off-edit-menu                                 1           2.4e-05       2.4e-05
| gnus-group-quit-config                                  1           2.1e-05       2.1e-05
| gnus-list-of-unread-articles                            1           2e-05         2e-05
| gnus-mode-line-buffer-identification                    1           1.9e-05       1.9e-05
| gnus-visual-p                                           5           1.899...e-05  3.799...e-06
| gnus-create-hash-size                                   2           1.8e-05       9e-06
| gnus-group-real-prefix                                  1           1.8e-05       1.8e-05
| gnus-group-group-name                                   1           1.7e-05       1.7e-05
| gnus-virtual-group-p                                    1           1.7e-05       1.7e-05
| gnus-undo-register-1                                    1           1.7e-05       1.7e-05
| gnus-agent-create-buffer                                1           1.6e-05       1.6e-05
| gnus-agent-history-buffer                               1           1.4e-05       1.4e-05
| gnus-get-unread-articles-in-group                       1           1.4e-05       1.4e-05
| gnus-undo-boundary                                      4           1.399...e-05  3.499...e-06
| nnoo-current-server                                     4           1.299...e-05  3.249...e-06
| gnus-netrc-machine                                      1           1.2e-05       1.2e-05
| gnus-frames-on-display-list                             1           1.1e-05       1.1e-05
| gnus-score-find-alist                                   1           1.1e-05       1.1e-05
| gnus-simplify-mode-line                                 1           9e-06         9e-06
| gnus-cache-update-active                                2           9e-06         4.5e-06
| nntp-find-connection                                    2           8e-06         4e-06
| gnus-home-score-file                                    2           7e-06         3.5e-06
| gnus-netrc-get                                          3           7e-06         2.333...e-06
| gnus-server-status                                      1           7e-06         7e-06
| nnoo-variables                                          2           6e-06         3e-06
| gnus-read-active-file-p                                 1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-agent-method-p                                     1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-make-sort-function-1                               1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-window-to-buffer-helper                            2           4.999...e-06  2.499...e-06
| gnus-windows-old-to-new                                 1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-cache-save-buffers                                 2           4e-06         2e-06
| gnus-summary-make-tool-bar                              1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-copy-sequence                                      1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-delete-if                                          1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-make-thread-indent-array                           1           3e-06         3e-06
| nnoo-parents                                            1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-agent-summary-make-menu-bar                        1           2e-06         2e-06
| gnus-set-default-directory                              1           2e-06         2e-06
| gnus-summary-maybe-hide-threads                         1           2e-06         2e-06
\----

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> | gnus-retrieve-headers                                   3           364.20543699  121.40181233

This is misleading -- ELP doesn't get recursive calls right, so this
probably uses one third of the time shown here.

> | gnus-cache-retrieve-headers                             1           182.575129    182.575129

Right.  This is the actual time spent fetching.  (The name is
misleading -- it will (most likely) just call `gnus-retrieve-headers'
and let it do its thing.

> | nntp-retrieve-headers                                   1           1.052888      1.052888

But this is incredible.  Or do you really have all the articles in the
cache?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:
>
>> | nntp-retrieve-headers                                   1           1.052888      1.052888
>
> But this is incredible.  Or do you really have all the articles in the
> cache?

I have a lot of ticked and dormant messages in there which are in the
cache (because of gnus-use-cache being t).  Lesse, how many articles
does the group actually have?

Ah:

/----
| grossjoh@lucy> telnet fbi-news 119
| Trying 129.217.4.45...
| Connected to fbi-news.
| Escape character is '^]'.
| 200 Informatik.Uni-Dortmund.DE InterNetNews NNRP server INN 1.7.2 08-Dec-1997 ready (posting ok).
| group gnu.emacs.help
| 211 1007 97846 98858 gnu.emacs.help
| quit
| 205 .
| Connection closed by foreign host.
\----

Hm.  1,000 messages.  These should have been fetched from the
server.  Do you think it's reasonable that these can be fetched in
one second?  The connection between here and the server is a LAN
(same building).

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> Hm.  1,000 messages.  These should have been fetched from the
> server.  Do you think it's reasonable that these can be fetched in
> one second?  The connection between here and the server is a LAN
> (same building).

That's reasonable, but it took 364 seconds to enter that group.  How
many articles are there in the cache?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> That's reasonable, but it took 364 seconds to enter that group.  How
> many articles are there in the cache?

/----
| grossjoh@lucy> ls ~/News/cache/gnu.emacs.help/ | wc -l
|     184
\----

So... is there anything else I can do to find out where Gnus spends
the time?  The articles are ticked.  (In case that makes a
difference.)

Maybe I should try to mark them as dormant and then see what happens.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> So... is there anything else I can do to find out where Gnus spends
> the time?  The articles are ticked.  (In case that makes a
> difference.)
>
> Maybe I should try to mark them as dormant and then see what happens.

Dormant and ticked articles are very similar, so that probably won't
make much difference.

But I see that I missed the fact that the group is agentized.  How
many articles were displayed when you entered the group?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:
>
>> So... is there anything else I can do to find out where Gnus spends
>> the time?  The articles are ticked.  (In case that makes a
>> difference.)
>>
>> Maybe I should try to mark them as dormant and then see what happens.
>
> Dormant and ticked articles are very similar, so that probably won't
> make much difference.

I see.

> But I see that I missed the fact that the group is agentized.  How
> many articles were displayed when you entered the group?

About 1,800 (1,772 to be exact, but in the meantime some articles
might have arrived or expired).

While the group is agentized, I haven't done an agent fetch in a
really long time, and I was in plugged mode.

Hm.  Ah.  But I have 2210 articles in the agent cache directory.  Let
me delete those to see what happens (they are really old anyway).

Okay, now I did a cvs update, started a fresh Gnus, did M-x
gnus-agent-expire RET, entered the group, elp-instrumented the
packages "gnus" and "nn", entered the group again, and here are the
results:

/----
| Function Name                                           Call Count  Elapsed Time  Average Time
| ======================================================  ==========  ============  ============
| gnus-retrieve-headers                                   3           193.845265    64.615088333
| gnus-topic-select-group                                 1           108.034995    108.034995
| gnus-group-select-group                                 1           108.034931    108.034931
| gnus-group-read-group                                   1           108.034919    108.034919
| gnus-summary-read-group                                 1           108.034872    108.034872
| gnus-summary-read-group-1                               1           108.034857    108.034857
| gnus-select-newsgroup                                   1           99.801361     99.801361
| gnus-fetch-headers                                      1           97.991543     97.991543
| gnus-cache-retrieve-headers                             1           97.007807     97.007807
| gnus-agent-retrieve-headers                             1           96.319221     96.319221
| gnus-agent-save-alist                                   1           90.824356     90.824356
| gnus-summary-prepare                                    2           7.5673759999  3.7836879999
| gnus-summary-prepare-threads                            2           6.356983      3.1784915
| gnus-run-hooks                                          2598        4.4140439999  0.0016990161
| gnus-set-difference                                     3           4.2837419999  1.4279139999
| gnus-summary-limit                                      1           3.703272      3.703272
| gnus-dd-mmm                                             2590        2.1757540000  0.0008400594
| gnus-simplify-subject-fuzzy                             6054        1.3627560000  0.0002251000
| gnus-sort-threads-1                                     1360        1.1647499999  0.0008564338
| gnus-sort-threads                                       2           1.079927      0.5399635
| gnus-articles-to-read                                   1           1.021403      1.021403
| gnus-get-newsgroup-headers-xover                        1           0.982616      0.982616
| gnus-thread-sort-by-most-recent-number                  5882        0.6088250000  0.0001035064
| nntp-retrieve-headers                                   1           0.518039      0.518039
| nntp-accept-process-output                              187         0.5179440000  0.0027697540
| nntp-retrieve-headers-with-xover                        1           0.517936      0.517936
| nntp-send-xover-command                                 1           0.50554       0.50554
| nntp-send-command-nodelete                              1           0.505498      0.505498
| gnus-build-old-threads                                  1           0.4732420000  0.4732420000
| gnus-build-get-header                                   40          0.4697150000  0.0117428750
| gnus-cache-braid-nov                                    1           0.450159      0.450159
| gnus-summary-from-or-to-or-newsgroups                   2590        0.3935580000  0.0001519528
| gnus-thread-highest-number                              11764       0.3495069999  2.970...e-05
| gnus-possibly-score-headers                             1           0.343014      0.343014
| gnus-set-work-buffer                                    6056        0.3429149999  5.662...e-05
| gnus-score-headers                                      1           0.341492      0.341492
| gnus-agent-braid-nov                                    1           0.323557      0.323557
| gnus-extract-address-components                         2590        0.3215299999  0.0001241428
| gnus-build-sparse-threads                               1           0.294881      0.294881
| gnus-score-string                                       1           0.285263      0.285263
| gnus-sorted-complement                                  3           0.267874      0.0892913333
| gnus-summary-highlight-line                             2588        0.2619589999  0.0001012206
| gnus-update-missing-marks                               1           0.238278      0.238278
| gnus-agent-load-alist                                   1           0.2322109999  0.2322109999
| gnus-agent-read-file                                    1           0.23202       0.23202
| nnheader-insert-file-contents                           4           0.141754      0.0354385
| gnus-gather-threads-by-subject                          2           0.088504      0.044252
| gnus-correct-substring                                  504         0.0659760000  0.0001309047
| gnus-summary-limit-children                             1468        0.0504970000  3.439...e-05
| gnus-sorted-intersection                                2           0.044898      0.022449
| gnus-put-text-property-excluding-characters-with-faces  2588        0.0329380000  1.272...e-05
| gnus-request-group                                      1           0.032676      0.032676
| nntp-request-group                                      1           0.032633      0.032633
| gnus-put-text-property                                  5180        0.0260950000  5.037...e-06
| gnus-make-threads                                       2           0.025193      0.0125965
| gnus-killed-articles                                    1           0.024643      0.024643
| nnheader-message                                        179         0.0224710000  0.0001255363
| gnus-score-string<                                      10065       0.0220029999  2.186...e-06
| gnus-summary-initial-limit                              1           0.017684      0.017684
| gnus-uncompress-range                                   7           0.013732      0.0019617142
| gnus-cut-threads                                        2           0.012557      0.0062785
| nntp-decode-text                                        2           0.009412      0.004706
| gnus-char-width                                         8064        0.0090279999  1.119...e-06
| gnus-thread-loop-p                                      2134        0.0067940000  3.183...e-06
| gnus-point-at-eol                                       1393        0.0050470000  3.623...e-06
| gnus-summary-setup-buffer                               1           0.004155      0.004155
| gnus-adjust-marked-articles                             1           0.00345       0.00345
| gnus-group-find-parameter                               8           0.00334       0.0004175
| gnus-group-topic-parameters                             8           0.002868      0.0003585
| gnus-message                                            15          0.002525      0.0001683333
| gnus-group-fast-parameter                               6           0.002288      0.0003813333
| gnus-summary-mode                                       1           0.002218      0.002218
| gnus-group-decoded-name                                 7           0.002157      0.0003081428
| gnus-topic-hierarchical-parameters                      8           0.001909      0.000238625
| gnus-group-name-decode                                  7           0.0016810000  0.0002401428
| gnus-update-summary-mark-positions                      2           0.0016740000  0.0008370000
| gnus-summary-auto-select-subject                        1           0.001672      0.001672
| gnus-summary-first-unread-subject                       1           0.001661      0.001661
| gnus-cache-articles-in-group                            1           0.001636      0.001636
| gnus-compute-unseen-list                                1           0.001536      0.001536
| gnus-summary-first-subject                              2           0.0015279999  0.0007639999
| gnus-inverse-list-range-intersection                    1           0.001526      0.001526
| gnus-all-score-files                                    1           0.001501      0.001501
| gnus-summary-insert-line                                2           0.001447      0.0007235
| gnus-topic-parent-topic                                 152         0.0014120000  9.289...e-06
| gnus-current-topics                                     8           0.001263      0.000157875
| gnus-set-mode-line                                      2           0.000982      0.000491
| gnus-summary-setup-default-charset                      1           0.000861      0.000861
| nntp-find-connection-buffer                             188         0.0008529999  4.537...e-06
| gnus-sort-gathered-threads                              2           0.000807      0.0004035
| gnus-score-load-files                                   1           0.000758      0.000758
| gnus-update-format-specifications                       2           0.000721      0.0003605
| gnus-score-load-file                                    8           0.0007059999  8.824...e-05
| gnus-set-sorted-intersection                            1           0.000679      0.000679
| gnus-agent-article-name                                 3           0.000551      0.0001836666
| gnus-make-hashtable                                     3           0.000545      0.0001816666
| gnus-agent-open-history                                 1           0.000542      0.000542
| gnus-continuum-version                                  4           0.000506      0.0001265
| gnus-group-auto-expirable-p                             1           0.0005        0.0005
| gnus-current-topic                                      8           0.000498      6.225e-05
| gnus-topic-parameters                                   16          0.000483      3.01875e-05
| gnus-make-sort-function                                 2           0.000475      0.0002375
| gnus-parameter-charset                                  1           0.000472      0.000472
| gnus-agent-save-history                                 1           0.000462      0.000462
| gnus-summary-set-local-parameters                       1           0.000452      0.000452
| gnus-topic-find-topology                                56          0.0004449999  7.946...e-06
| gnus-score-find-hierarchical                            1           0.000439      0.000439
| gnus-byte-compile                                       2           0.000428      0.000214
| gnus-last-element                                       1           0.000397      0.000397
| gnus-set-global-variables                               4           0.0003909999  9.774...e-05
| gnus-parameter-ignored-charsets                         1           0.000365      0.000365
| gnus-goto-colon                                         8           0.0003549999  4.437...e-05
| gnus-group-name-charset                                 7           0.000352      5.028...e-05
| gnus-score-file-name                                    8           0.000349      4.3625e-05
| gnus-summary-position-point                             7           0.000346      4.942...e-05
| gnus-point-at-bol                                       125         0.0003369999  2.695...e-06
| gnus-cache-file-name                                    3           0.000327      0.0001089999
| gnus-configure-windows                                  1           0.000315      0.000315
| gnus-agent-group-path                                   3           0.0002780000  9.266...e-05
| gnus-make-directory                                     2           0.000255      0.0001275
| gnus-summary-buffer-name                                1           0.000242      0.000242
| gnus-apply-kill-file                                    1           0.000241      0.000241
| gnus-summary-goto-subject                               1           0.000223      0.000223
| gnus-score-load-score-alist                             4           0.00018       4.5e-05
| gnus-buffer-live-p                                      12          0.000178      1.483...e-05
| gnus-agent-enter-history                                1           0.00016       0.00016
| gnus-group-goto-group                                   8           0.000157      1.9625e-05
| gnus-group-prev-group                                   1           0.000156      0.000156
| gnus-configure-frame                                    2           0.000154      7.7e-05
| gnus-find-method-for-group                              15          0.000145      9.666...e-06
| gnus-get-buffer-create                                  5           0.000142      2.840...e-05
| gnus-group-next-unread-group                            1           0.000136      0.000136
| gnus-update-read-articles                               1           0.000127      0.000127
| gnus-group-search-forward                               1           0.000117      0.000117
| gnus-newsgroup-kill-file                                2           0.000117      5.85e-05
| gnus-thread-sort-by-number                              44          0.0001149999  2.613...e-06
| gnus-short-group-name                                   2           0.000104      5.2e-05
| gnus-summary-make-local-variables                       2           9.9e-05       4.95e-05
| nntp-possibly-change-group                              2           9.8e-05       4.9e-05
| nntp-server-opened                                      3           8.9e-05       2.966...e-05
| gnus-agent-mode                                         1           8.7e-05       8.7e-05
| gnus-check-server                                       1           8.7e-05       8.7e-05
| gnus-all-windows-visible-p                              1           8.7e-05       8.7e-05
| gnus-summary-set-display-table                          1           8.6e-05       8.6e-05
| gnus-server-opened                                      1           7.8e-05       7.8e-05
| gnus-agent-lib-file                                     1           7.4e-05       7.4e-05
| gnus-summary-show-thread                                1           7.1e-05       7.1e-05
| gnus-article-mark-to-type                               22          6.8e-05       3.090...e-06
| nnheader-find-nov-line                                  1           6.7e-05       6.7e-05
| gnus-group-position-point                               1           6.6e-05       6.6e-05
| gnus-parameters-get-parameter                           2           6.3e-05       3.15e-05
| nnheader-concat                                         4           5.8e-05       1.45e-05
| gnus-newsgroup-savable-name                             7           5.499...e-05  7.857...e-06
| gnus-group-get-parameter                                9           5.299...e-05  5.888...e-06
| gnus-get-buffer-window                                  1           4.9e-05       4.9e-05
| nnheader-replace-duplicate-chars-in-string              3           4.9e-05       1.633...e-05
| gnus-agent-get-function                                 3           4.3e-05       1.433...e-05
| gnus-group-topic-p                                      1           4.2e-05       4.2e-05
| gnus-agent-get-undownloaded-list                        1           4.1e-05       4.1e-05
| gnus-online                                             5           3.999...e-05  8e-06
| gnus-get-function                                       1           3.7e-05       3.7e-05
| nnheader-set-temp-buffer                                1           3.7e-05       3.7e-05
| nnheader-translate-file-chars                           19          3.599...e-05  1.894...e-06
| gnus-mode-line-buffer-identification                    2           3.5e-05       1.75e-05
| gnus-summary-make-menu-bar                              1           3.4e-05       3.4e-05
| gnus-group-topic-name                                   1           3e-05         3e-05
| gnus-group-parameter-value                              7           2.999...e-05  4.285...e-06
| gnus-group-quit-config                                  1           2.7e-05       2.7e-05
| gnus-turn-off-edit-menu                                 1           2.6e-05       2.6e-05
| gnus-create-hash-size                                   3           2.5e-05       8.333...e-06
| gnus-visual-p                                           6           2.2e-05       3.666...e-06
| gnus-use-long-file-name                                 10          2.2e-05       2.2e-06
| gnus-summary-set-article-display-arrow                  1           2.1e-05       2.1e-05
| gnus-group-group-name                                   1           1.9e-05       1.9e-05
| gnus-list-of-unread-articles                            1           1.9e-05       1.9e-05
| gnus-group-real-prefix                                  1           1.8e-05       1.8e-05
| gnus-virtual-group-p                                    1           1.7e-05       1.7e-05
| gnus-agent-create-buffer                                1           1.6e-05       1.6e-05
| gnus-get-unread-articles-in-group                       1           1.6e-05       1.6e-05
| gnus-undo-register                                      1           1.4e-05       1.4e-05
| gnus-frames-on-display-list                             1           1.3e-05       1.3e-05
| gnus-undo-boundary                                      4           1.3e-05       3.25e-06
| gnus-cache-update-active                                2           9.999...e-06  4.999...e-06
| gnus-make-sort-function-1                               2           9e-06         4.5e-06
| nnoo-current-server                                     3           8.999...e-06  2.999...e-06
| gnus-simplify-mode-line                                 1           8e-06         8e-06
| gnus-server-status                                      1           8e-06         8e-06
| nntp-find-connection                                    2           8e-06         4e-06
| gnus-home-score-file                                    2           7e-06         3.5e-06
| gnus-set-default-directory                              1           6e-06         6e-06
| gnus-summary-maybe-hide-threads                         2           6e-06         3e-06
| gnus-agent-method-p                                     1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-agent-history-buffer                               1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-undo-register-1                                    1           5e-06         5e-06
| gnus-window-to-buffer-helper                            2           4e-06         2e-06
| gnus-windows-old-to-new                                 1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-summary-make-tool-bar                              1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-score-find-alist                                   1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-cache-save-buffers                                 2           4e-06         2e-06
| gnus-copy-sequence                                      1           4e-06         4e-06
| gnus-id-to-thread                                       1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-delete-if                                          1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-make-thread-indent-array                           1           3e-06         3e-06
| gnus-agent-summary-make-menu-bar                        1           2e-06         2e-06
\----

All group entries were done with `- ='.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> What number of articles did Gnus query you for when you entered the
> group? 

35798

(I love the way I can do copy and paste from prompts now!)

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

ShengHuo ZHU <zsh@cs.rochester.edu> writes:

> It is probably because I added some codes into gnus-agent-save-alist
> to make sure there is only one item for each article.

Kai.Grossjohann@CS.Uni-Dortmund.DE (Kai Großjohann) writes:

>> What number of articles did Gnus query you for when you entered the
>> group? 
>
> 35798

Yup.  As ShengHuo said, the problem is in `gnus-agent-save-alist',
which is an O(N^2) function.  (Well.  O(N*M), really, but N and M can
both be pretty large.)

The good news is that it's quite easy to make it an O(N) function.
I'll give it a whirl...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> The good news is that it's quite easy to make it an O(N) function.
> I'll give it a whirl...

Now it's O(N) in CVS.  And it's 300% uglier.  :-)

I hope it's correct, though...

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> I hope it's correct, though...

It wasn't, of course, but I've now made it not infloop, at least.

Anyway, I've been elping some more.  I find that it's typical for me
to read large groups quite often.  That is, I enter groups that have a
very small number of new articles, and a huge number of older
articles.  I. e., a big NOV file.  rec.arts.sf.fandom has a 16MB NOV
file, and putting that file into a buffer takes (on this machine) half
a second.  So I've implemented a function `nnheader-insert-nov-file'
that first inserts the last 8K into a buffer, and if the first NOV
line we're looking for wasn't in that chunk, we just fall back to the
old way of inserting the whole file into the buffer.

(This could obviously be improved upon.  :-)

After doing that, entry time into these groups is halved, and instead
of having time to blink between `RET' and reading, I, er, don't.

Here are the new timings.  

Function Name                                           Call Count  Elapsed Time  Average Time
======================================================  ==========  ============  ============
gnus-summary-read-group-1                               1           0.465545      0.465545
gnus-select-newsgroup                                   1           0.344302      0.344302
gnus-agent-load-alist                                   2           0.305771      0.1528855

Hm...  This is called twice.  Might be a bug.  I'll investigate.

Anyway. `gnus-agent-load-alist' is now the biggest time drain when
entering a big agentized group (with few new articles, which is the
common case).  It's difficult imagining doing anything about it,
though -- I don't think there's any more efficient way to read in a
bunch of numbers than to put them in a list and calling `read' on the
whole list.  I could be wrong, though.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> After doing that, entry time into these groups is halved, and instead
> of having time to blink between `RET' and reading, I, er, don't.

Setting `gnus-verbose' to 1 makes Gnus feel much snappier.  :-)  Must
be a psychological thing.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Setting `gnus-verbose' to 1 makes Gnus feel much snappier.  :-)  Must
> be a psychological thing.

I noticed that selection of the first message in a big group took
quite a while (half a second), while subsequent selections took only a
fraction of that, and I hunted that down to the code that allows using
compressed messages.  I think that's quite obscure functionality, and
it makes no sense punishing normal users, so I've now disabled that
unless you set `nnml-use-compressed-files'.

Selection of the first message in the same group now takes 0.03
seconds. 

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Raja R Harinath]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> Setting `gnus-verbose' to 1 makes Gnus feel much snappier.  :-)  Must
>> be a psychological thing.
>
> I noticed that selection of the first message in a big group took
> quite a while (half a second), while subsequent selections took only a
> fraction of that, and I hunted that down to the code that allows using
> compressed messages.  I think that's quite obscure functionality, and
> it makes no sense punishing normal users, so I've now disabled that
> unless you set `nnml-use-compressed-files'.

Isn't that functionality already present in 'nnml-filenames-are-evil'?

- Hari
-- 
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ harinath@cs.umn.edu
"When all else fails, read the instructions."      -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing."   -- Roy L Ash

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Raja R Harinath <harinath@cs.umn.edu> writes:

> Isn't that functionality already present in 'nnml-filenames-are-evil'?

Not really.  That only disabled parts of the logic -- the entire
directory was still scanned.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Christoph Conrad]

Hello Lars,

you wrote:

    > Setting `gnus-verbose' to 1 makes Gnus feel much snappier. :-)
    > Must be a psychological thing.

Funny...

A collegue of mine complaint about garbage collection messages now and
then. So i tried a little psychological experiment and disabled
garbage collection messages by setting `garbage-collection-messages'
to nil without telling him. I told him i did made some optimization.

He was delighted and thanked me for speeding it up ;-)

Best regards,
cu, -cc-
-- 
=> GNU Emacs Webring @ <http://www.gnusoftware.com/WebRing/> <=
Look Ma, this man can twist his fingers as if they were made of rubber,
isn't that amazing? -- Not really, he's been using emacs for years...!

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jan Vroonhof]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Anyway, I've been elping some more.  I find that it's typical for me
> to read large groups quite often.  That is, I enter groups that have a
> very small number of new articles, and a huge number of older
> articles.

A good example for me is nntp+news.gnus.org:gnus.ding, which has takes
(or I should say took, see below) ages to visit for me. Most of that
seems to be grabbing the NOV entries over the network.

> I. e., a big NOV file.  rec.arts.sf.fandom has a 16MB NOV
> file, and putting that file into a buffer takes (on this machine) half
> a second.  So I've implemented a function `nnheader-insert-nov-file'
> that first inserts the last 8K into a buffer, and if the first NOV
> line we're looking for wasn't in that chunk, we just fall back to the
> old way of inserting the whole file into the buffer.

Does this also work over the network?

We recently downgraded to exchange for our news server and it
generates broken NOV lines, of the type "larsi@gnus.org (Lars I)
<larsi@gnus.org>". So I set nntp-nov-is-evil to 't' [1] and
low-and-behold it seems faster! (that maybe because gnus-fetch-old-headers
seems to have stopped working as well).

Jan

Footnotes: [1] I tried doing this in the server parameters but failed,
so I set it globally.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Russ Allbery]

Jan Vroonhof <jvlists@ntlworld.com> writes:

> We recently downgraded to exchange for our news server and it generates
> broken NOV lines, of the type "larsi@gnus.org (Lars I)
> <larsi@gnus.org>". So I set nntp-nov-is-evil to 't' [1] and
> low-and-behold it seems faster! (that maybe because
> gnus-fetch-old-headers seems to have stopped working as well).

It wouldn't surprise me if Exchange uses some idiotic way of generating
overview data too.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:
>
>> The good news is that it's quite easy to make it an O(N) function.
>> I'll give it a whirl...
>
> Now it's O(N) in CVS.  And it's 300% uglier.  :-)

Ah, it seems faster now.  But I'm running X11 redirection over an ISDN
line right now, so I'll wait with conclusive stuff until Monday.

kai
-- 
~/.signature is: umop 3p!sdn    (Frank Nobis)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Daniel Pittman]

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Karl Kleinpaste wrote:
> Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:
>> I peak at > 90,000 messages at the moment, with the ten most
>> active groups running down from there to ~ 12,000 messages.
> 
> When you have a few spare moments, it would be instructive to see your
> timings for a 4-article entry to a group with 100, 20K, and 90K
> messages.

P-II 400, 288MB RAM

100: ~ 0.75 seconds
1000: ~ 1.25 seconds
15000: ~ 2 seconds

25000 (or 54000): ~ 7 seconds
17710: ~ 15 seconds.

There are two anomalous figures here. The first, the 25K or 54K, is my
working linux.kernel archive. *Groups* claims that 25K articles exist,
overview has 54K lines -- and that's around the right number.

Also, the 90K group, which I wanted to test, isn't in active any more,
nor does it's overview exist. It still has (some, possibly not all) it's
messages, though. I will probably respool soon and see what's up.

I think that I may have had some, er, damage done to active in the past,
though, which is a pain. I seem to have lost most of 'nnfolder:archive'
as well, which /really/ sucks. Er, though it's active has the right
groups listed. How very odd.


The second anomaly is my archive of the Gnus list. It's /very/ slow to
enter, because it has a whole set of ticked articles in it. Doing this
makes things /very/ slow, which is annoying.

The oldest article ticked is number '7062', with 36 total marked that
way.

24469 is the highest article number in that group; 6760 the oldest
mentioned in .overview.

        Daniel

-- 
Regard all art critics as useless and dangerous.
        -- Manifesto of the Futurists

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

>> There's certainly no harm to making Gnus able to handle the storage
>> needs of gargantuan archives.  Sure, knock yourself out.  But that's
>> not a problem currently being faced by more than maybe 5 people on the
>> planet, whereas every single Gnus user has to worry over the entry
>> time cost of a busy group with 900 new messages.
>
> That would be something that would be good to address first. Don't
> mistake it for the only problem, though.

It's not really an area that's been addressed before, either, so it's
an area that can be done something with.  Scoring and threading have
already been optimized several times.

There are lots of new things in Gnus that haven't been particularly
optimized.  For instance, I just did a new batch of elping, and saw
that the `seen' code called `gnus-member-of-range' once per article
displayed, which is a hight linear cost.  I separated that thing out
into its own function and saw that the `gnus-newsgroup-unseen'
computation (in a 1000 article summary buffer) took 1 second.  So I
wrote `gnus-inverse-list-range-intersection', and the computation now
takes 0.001426 seconds, says elp.

There's a lot of computational complexity in Gnus that needs more
eyes.  I think it's a safe bet that normal group entry can easily be
made a few orders of magnitude faster.  (And the
view-one-article-in-a- 200K-group can be made hundreds of orders of
magnitudes faster.)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Is there a directive I can give to the byte-compiler to make all the
defsubsts into defuns and all the `inline's into `progn's?  I want to
have a closer look at function timings without having to alter the
source... 

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Is there a directive I can give to the byte-compiler to make all the
> defsubsts into defuns and all the `inline's into `progn's?  I want to
> have a closer look at function timings without having to alter the
> source... 

I had a peek around, and the following seems to do the trick, I think:

;; To avoid having defsubsts and inlines happen.
(defun byte-optimize-inline-handler (form)
  "byte-optimize-handler for the `inline' special-form."
  (cons 'progn (cdr form)))
(defalias 'byte-compile-file-form-defsubst 'byte-compile-file-form-defun)


-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Daniel Pittman]

On Fri, 25 Jan 2002, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Is there a directive I can give to the byte-compiler to make all the
> defsubsts into defuns and all the `inline's into `progn's?  I want to
> have a closer look at function timings without having to alter the
> source... 

Sadly, either hacking the byte complier or mapping through the sources
and doing `proclaim-notinline' on each `defsubst' seems to be needed.
That is a sad thing. :(

Er, under a fairly current XEmacs 21.5 beta, that is. Oh, and `inline'
/is/ `progn' here.

        Daniel

-- 
We're marketers, so truth is kind of a nebulous concept to us.
        -- Ray Scott, DEC field marketing rep

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Daniel Pittman <daniel@rimspace.net> writes:

> Er, under a fairly current XEmacs 21.5 beta, that is. Oh, and `inline'
> /is/ `progn' here.

Yeah, it's an alias for `progn', but it's also a compiler directive.
:-) 

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Justin Sheehy]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> Does anyone have a group, or does anyone plan to create a group,
> that goes beyond, say, 30K messages?

Until fairly recently, I was heavily using a group that has [checks]
59837 messages in it.

So, yes.

-Justin

 

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> Yet you want to optimize the case that's so far out to the edge, I
> doubt there's anyone that even actually _has_ a single group with 200K
> messages in it, against which to test the planned optimization.  (Does
> anyone?  Really, right now?  Does anyone have a group, or does anyone
> plan to create a group, that goes beyond, say, 30K messages?)  You're
> optimizing this bizarre, unusual, never-seen case, while the case that
> I've run into at least a dozen times today alone haunts us, where
> getting into a big, busy, NNTP group costs me minutes of computation
> time while *Summary* is generated.

I have groups bigger than 30K messages. The average size is 50K
messages when I backup them (and other groups) to a CD. It takes 3 or
4 months to get back to that. 


See you,
-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Frank Schmitt]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

>When I select the whole group, Gnus says "scoring" within 3 or 4
>seconds of beginning entry, which then takes 28 seconds.  Then Gnus
>says "Generating summary", which takes well over a minute before the
>summary is displayed.  Total time is about 1:43.  That's the sort of
>time occupation that worries me.

Absolutely my point of view, too. I have a local archive newsserver with
groups with more than 50k messages in it. When I try to enter those
groups with Gnus I can have a cigarette before Gnus is ready.

Slrn or XNews are *much* faster.

-- 
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
19. Dezember 2001

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Simon Josefsson]

Frank Schmitt <usereplyto@Frank-Schmitt.net> writes:

> Absolutely my point of view, too. I have a local archive newsserver with
> groups with more than 50k messages in it. When I try to enter those
> groups with Gnus I can have a cigarette before Gnus is ready.

Oh no, I can see the lawsuits ... "Gnus causes cancer".

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Simon Josefsson]

On Thu, 24 Jan 2002, Karl Kleinpaste wrote:

> I have been wondering about this since this discussion started.  The
> slowness of entering a large group of 10K messages, or 100K, has very
> little to do with getting at either the overview data or the message
> files.  It has to do with threading, scoring, and sorting.  I don't
> know what Gnus' threading algorithm is, but I suspect its performance
> is at least as poor as O(n log n) and may even be as bad as O(n^2).
> It is not clear to me that it is possible to do better than O(n log n)
> in the first place, though I haven't contemplated the matter very long.

It is possible to do it in O(1) from Gnus's point of view: Push that 
functionality down into the backend. :-)

Caching threading information is another way.

(Another thing that takes time, besides the ones you mention, are
inserting the entry for each message in the summary buffer, with the
proper MIME decoding and stuff.)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Randal L. Schwartz]

>>>>> "Simon" == Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:

Simon> It is possible to do it in O(1) from Gnus's point of view: Push that 
Simon> functionality down into the backend. :-)

"Any calculation can be made in constant time, if the constant is big enough".

:-)

-- 
Randal L. Schwartz - Stonehenge Consulting Services, Inc. - +1 503 777 0095
<merlyn@stonehenge.com> <URL:http://www.stonehenge.com/merlyn/>
Perl/Unix/security consulting, Technical writing, Comedy, etc. etc.
See PerlTraining.Stonehenge.com for onsite and open-enrollment Perl training!

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Zlatko Calusic]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:
>> NNML scales linearly with the number of messages in the group, does
>> it not?  Gnus definitely doesn't scale linearly, so redesigning
>> something to get support for large mail/news backends should go into
>> Gnus, I think.
>
> I have been wondering about this since this discussion started.  The
> slowness of entering a large group of 10K messages, or 100K, has very
> little to do with getting at either the overview data or the message
> files.  It has to do with threading, scoring, and sorting.  I don't
> know what Gnus' threading algorithm is, but I suspect its performance
> is at least as poor as O(n log n) and may even be as bad as O(n^2).

It is definitely O(n^2), I was measuring it recently. I have an nnml
group (ok, linux-kernel list, why keep it secret :)) which hovers
around the number of 15000 unread mails (12k - 17k typicaly, last few
months). It takes minutes! to enter that group on a quite fast machine
with a gobs of memory. It's no mystery I'm not eager to start reading
that list, and tomorrow things get only worse. :)

My observings are that threading and sorting take a lot of time (not
scoring!). And I found it is exactly O(n^2). If I read, kill,
whatever...  30% of articles in the group, elapsed time during
entering the group cuts in half. I was delibaretely measuring it to
see what is the upper limit of usability. Quite lowish, if I may add.

-- 
Zlatko

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Zlatko Calusic]

Zlatko Calusic <zlatko.calusic@iskon.hr> writes:

> Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:
>
>> Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:
>>> NNML scales linearly with the number of messages in the group, does
>>> it not?  Gnus definitely doesn't scale linearly, so redesigning
>>> something to get support for large mail/news backends should go into
>>> Gnus, I think.
>>
>> I have been wondering about this since this discussion started.  The
>> slowness of entering a large group of 10K messages, or 100K, has very
>> little to do with getting at either the overview data or the message
>> files.  It has to do with threading, scoring, and sorting.  I don't
>> know what Gnus' threading algorithm is, but I suspect its performance
>> is at least as poor as O(n log n) and may even be as bad as O(n^2).
>
> It is definitely O(n^2), I was measuring it recently. I have an nnml
> group (ok, linux-kernel list, why keep it secret :)) which hovers
> around the number of 15000 unread mails (12k - 17k typicaly, last few
> months). It takes minutes! to enter that group on a quite fast machine
> with a gobs of memory. It's no mystery I'm not eager to start reading
> that list, and tomorrow things get only worse. :)
>

Correct numbers:

nnml group, 18294 articles, entering takes ~8 minutes on PIII1000
-- 
Zlatko

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Zlatko Calusic <zlatko.calusic@iskon.hr> writes:

> It is definitely O(n^2), I was measuring it recently.

Are you sure?  I ran the following loop on an Agentized group (which
means that it's really nnml):

(dotimes (i 9)
  (push (list (* (1+ i) 1000)
              (benchmark 1
                (gnus-group-select-group (* (1+ i) 1000)))) times)
  (gnus-summary-exit-no-update))

times =>
((8000 24.422008991241455)
 (7000 20.992663979530334)
 (6000 17.149681091308594)
 (5000 14.887889981269836)
 (4000 13.466870069503784)
 (3000 9.70430600643158)
 (2000 7.009864926338196)
 (1000 3.862096071243286))  

So we see that group entry time is actually linear, which surprised me
a lot.

(Athlon XP 1900+, DDR RAM, Emacs 21.1.)

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> times =>
> ((8000 24.422008991241455)
>  (7000 20.992663979530334)
>  (6000 17.149681091308594)
>  (5000 14.887889981269836)
>  (4000 13.466870069503784)
>  (3000 9.70430600643158)
>  (2000 7.009864926338196)
>  (1000 3.862096071243286))  

And now it's:

times =>
((8000 11.500802993774414)
 (7000 9.747804045677185)
 (6000 8.098258018493652)
 (5000 6.130577087402344)
 (4000 4.86285400390625)
 (3000 3.723906993865967)
 (2000 2.5801719427108765)
 (1000 1.667241096496582))

Let's hope I didn't break too much.  :-) 
 
-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Kai Großjohann]

Karl Kleinpaste <karl@charcoal.com> writes:

> I have been wondering about this since this discussion started.  The
> slowness of entering a large group of 10K messages, or 100K, has very
> little to do with getting at either the overview data or the message
> files.  It has to do with threading, scoring, and sorting.

I suggest that you (setq gnus-verbose 10) and then you will see.  For
me, it's "Fetching headers" and "Generating Summary Buffer" which
take long, whereas "Threading" and "Scoring" are comparatively
quick.  Hm.  I think it's especially "Generating summary buffer".

But maybe I'm using a stupid gnus-summary-line-format.

kai
-- 
Simplification good!  Oversimplification bad!  (Larry Wall)

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Paul Jarc]

Per Abrahamsen <abraham@dina.kvl.dk> wrote:
> Gnus will be less robust if it has to support mutiple filesystem
> layouts, so there has to be some real advantage to make up for that.

Gnus already supports multiple filesystem layouts via different
backends.  I don't think that has made it less robust.


paul

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Per Abrahamsen]

prj@po.cwru.edu (Paul Jarc) writes:

> Gnus already supports multiple filesystem layouts via different
> backends.  I don't think that has made it less robust.

I'm certain of it.  Bugs go unfixed longer because the developers use
different backends.  More relevant, I have in the past had many
problems related to having a non-default setting of
'gnus-use-long-file-name', which is similar to the option that is
currently discussed.

But the existing backends each have real benefits.  Disabling a
workaround on platforms where it is not needed, with the sole
justification that "it is not needed" has no real benefits.  It just
makes the code less robust.

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Nevin Kapur]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Now that there are nice, free SQL-based database servers out there
> (PostgreSQL, and, er, PostgreSQL), would it be an idea to have a
> db-backed mail back end?  What would you gain by such a beast, and
> what would you lose?
>
> 1) You would be able to search
> 2) You could create new groupings on-the-fly -- by altering
>    the "splitting" criteria, you would alter which messages
>    end up where (perhaps) (or not)
> 3) erm...

I think this is a super-cool idea.  Such a backend would be a great
target for archiving mail.   I can't think of any disadvantages,
except perhaps the complexity of setting up such a group.

-- 
Nevin

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

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Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Now that there are nice, free SQL-based database servers out there
> (PostgreSQL, and, er, PostgreSQL), would it be an idea to have a
> db-backed mail back end?  What would you gain by such a beast, and
> what would you lose?
>
> 1) You would be able to search
> 2) You could create new groupings on-the-fly -- by altering
>    the "splitting" criteria, you would alter which messages
>    end up where (perhaps) (or not)
> 3) erm...

How about implementing a better LDAP support before? Such as using it
for splitting rules, scoring, etc.? 


See you,
-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

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Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:

> How about implementing a better LDAP support before? Such as using it
> for splitting rules, scoring, etc.? 

How do you envision using LDAP for that?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

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Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:
>
>> How about implementing a better LDAP support before? Such as using it
>> for splitting rules, scoring, etc.? 
>
> How do you envision using LDAP for that?

Something like we have for BBDB, but without using BBDB. ;-)

Oversimplifying things:

   * Gnus parses message headers 

   * Finds the, e.g., From: line (or any other configurable header /
     pattern) 

   * Looks at the LDAP database for an entry with that address

   * Split the message to the correct folder (or /dev/null ;-)) 

   * After writing the message there, before/after updating the
     indices that exists there, Gnus looks for some score information
     and also update it to the correct file (if needed or if this
     information is not in the LDAP server)

   
If the user uses some auto-scoring capability, the information is sent
back to the LDAP server only when the user exits the folder, to
improve performance talking to and writing at the LDAP server.


Depending on the schema created, topic and group info could also be
stored at the LDAP server.


Messages could be used with any backend, since these and the LDAP
server are used for different purpose.


See you,
-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

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Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:

> Oversimplifying things:
>
>    * Gnus parses message headers 
>
>    * Finds the, e.g., From: line (or any other configurable header /
>      pattern) 
>
>    * Looks at the LDAP database for an entry with that address
>
>    * Split the message to the correct folder (or /dev/null ;-)) 
>
>    * After writing the message there, before/after updating the
>      indices that exists there, Gnus looks for some score information
>      and also update it to the correct file (if needed or if this
>      information is not in the LDAP server)

Well -- what do you gain by sticking this in an LDAP server instead of
just keeping it in Lisp?

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Jorge Godoy]

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Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:
>
>> Oversimplifying things:
>>
>>    * Gnus parses message headers 
>>
>>    * Finds the, e.g., From: line (or any other configurable header /
>>      pattern) 
>>
>>    * Looks at the LDAP database for an entry with that address
>>
>>    * Split the message to the correct folder (or /dev/null ;-)) 
>>
>>    * After writing the message there, before/after updating the
>>      indices that exists there, Gnus looks for some score information
>>      and also update it to the correct file (if needed or if this
>>      information is not in the LDAP server)
>
> Well -- what do you gain by sticking this in an LDAP server instead of
> just keeping it in Lisp?

Taking BBDB again as an example.

If I was using it, I'd have to load it's database on memory. For a 15k
entries database it would be really slow and memory consuming.

If I was using LDAP, I'd have to make queries to the LDAP server,
which is specialized in this kind of query and would not have all the
15k entries eating up my RAM. Not to tell the amount of time saved on
not-loading these entries and parsing them. Oh! And not to tell the
safety improvement on avoiding data corruption. Also avoiding data
duplication. Not to talk having already corporative databases ready to
use, without having to import them every time some entry changes. 


I see several advantages on having LDAP to do that instead of Lisp. 

Each tool doing what it was written and optimized for. Lisp is good,
but not for databases or address books.


With regards to the information on splitting, it would be available to
other tools as well. I would have to maintain only my LDAP rules and I
would be able to use them with my webmail, my procmail, my Gnus,
etc. If I decide to stop using procmail, I won't have to rewrite
everything. And, as one can do with BBDB, you can also attach one
splitting rule to each person/e-mail address.


The biggest improvements are: less RAM used, faster access to the
information. 

-- 
Godoy. <godoy@conectiva.com>

Escritório de Projetos		-- 	  Conectiva S.A.
Projects Office			--	  Conectiva Inc.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 268 bytes --]

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Jorge Godoy <godoy@conectiva.com> writes:

> If I was using it, I'd have to load it's database on memory. For a 15k
> entries database it would be really slow and memory consuming.

But you only have to `read' the list once (per Gnus session, which
(for most people) last quite a while), and then it's in memory.

> If I was using LDAP, I'd have to make queries to the LDAP server,
> which is specialized in this kind of query and would not have all the
> 15k entries eating up my RAM. Not to tell the amount of time saved on
> not-loading these entries and parsing them.

Querying an LDAP server per mail you receive will be slow, though.

> Oh! And not to tell the safety improvement on avoiding data
> corruption.

Data corruption isn't much of an issue with mail splitting, since that
comes from .emacs anyway...  bbdb is a different matter, though.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   larsi@gnus.org * Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen

Re: db-backed mail back end

[Rob Browning]

Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Now that there are nice, free SQL-based database servers out there
> (PostgreSQL, and, er, PostgreSQL), would it be an idea to have a
> db-backed mail back end?  What would you gain by such a beast, and
> what would you lose?

FWIW, I've been thinking about what might be involved for a while now
(mostly wondering about an nnsql backend) -- things I'd been
pondering:

  * if the db layout were well specified, and if certain precautions
    were taken, would it be possible to use other tools to manipulate
    your mail (perl, python, whatever) without stepping on gnus' toes?
    At the very least, it would be nice if there were a simple elisp
    library for manipulating your mail.  i.e.:
      (gnus-for-each-msg-in-group
        (lambda (msg) (gnus-msg-mark msg 'expirable))
        "spam")

  * upon arrival each msg could be given a guaranteed unique id, and
    everything else in the DB could key off of that.  This makes "msg
    urls" possible so that you can easily refer to your mail from
    other documents, like a to-do file, etc, even if you move/re-file
    the message, etc.  Only deletion would render the msg unreachable
    via that url.  i.e. gnus://my-msgs/20333111 (or whatever)

  * as you suggest, it seems like a given message could easily belong
    to multiple mail groups via a table containing (msg-id group-name)
    rows.  Deleting a message from a group would just mean removing
    the corresponding row, and the message might or might not be
    deleted when its last "group membership" link were removed.
    Though there might be performance issues, depending on how you
    handled this.

  * it would also be easy to add a table (or tables) for user defined
    per-msg information (user tags, or whatever)

  * transactions and locking might be helpful on the safety front.

  * you might be able to (eventually) provide fairly fancy remote mail
    access, though I'm not sure how hard it is to reasonably secure a
    postgres connection.

  * here, we've figured how to easily launch a copy of postgres in a
    sandbox, and so it's easy to use it during "make check"
    etc. without worrying about mucking up a system shared db.  It
    would also make it easy to "automate" setup and installation for
    people who don't need all their mail in the system shared DB.  You
    can just ask "Where should we put your mail repository?", and then
    create that tree and launch a postmaster there.  The user wouldn't
    have to bother the system DB admin or know any DB commands just to
    set up their sql mail system.

  * originally, I had figured that for my purposes, I might just use
    the DB for the meta-data and store the messages on disk.  I'd have
    one table that mapped the msg unique IDs to filesystem paths and I
    wouldn't store all the message bodies in the database.  It seems
    like whether or not this is a good idea really depends on the
    system's other goals (do you want the db to search for content, or
    other tools, i.e. glimpse, etc.).  If I had tried this, I was
    thinking of storing messages with paths chosen according to
    arrival time like ./msgs/2002/01/02/1 or similar.

  * deletion/expiry might be able to be more completely divorced from
    readness as a state.  Personally, I don't really want to lose the
    information that I've read/ticked/not-read something just because
    I mark it as expired/deleted/etc.

-- 
Rob Browning
rlb @defaultvalue.org, @linuxdevel.com, and @debian.org
Previously @cs.utexas.edu
GPG=1C58 8B2C FB5E 3F64 EA5C  64AE 78FE E5FE F0CB A0AD