nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Kai Großjohann]

When I `g'et new news, nnimap tells me it's ``Checking mailbox foo''
for every nnimap group I've got.  This is much faster than the
``Updating info for foo'' which I got when I started with nnimap.  But
still, if you have many groups, it takes quite a bit of time.  My boss
is complaining about it...

So, is it possible to do something about this to make it even faster
than fast?

What is nnimap doing when it is checking each mailbox?

kai
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Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Simon Josefsson]

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

> When I `g'et new news, nnimap tells me it's ``Checking mailbox foo''
> for every nnimap group I've got.  This is much faster than the
> ``Updating info for foo'' which I got when I started with nnimap.  But
> still, if you have many groups, it takes quite a bit of time.  My boss
> is complaining about it...
>
> So, is it possible to do something about this to make it even faster
> than fast?
>
> What is nnimap doing when it is checking each mailbox?

It is finding the "active info" (highest and lowest article number)
for the group.  Gnus needs this to find unread mail.

It might be possible to collect this information in the background.
Or altering the way Gnus looks for unread mail to make things faster.

Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Kai Großjohann]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:

> It might be possible to collect this information in the background.
> Or altering the way Gnus looks for unread mail to make things faster.

This sounds as if the IMAP protocol could deliver useful information
faster, but Gnus doesn't know what to do with it.

What could be the data that IMAP can deliver faster?

kai
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Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Simon Josefsson]

On Tue, 28 Aug 2001, Kai Großjohann wrote:

> > It might be possible to collect this information in the background.
> > Or altering the way Gnus looks for unread mail to make things faster.
>
> This sounds as if the IMAP protocol could deliver useful information
> faster, but Gnus doesn't know what to do with it.

Yup.

> What could be the data that IMAP can deliver faster?

Most things except highest and lowest article number in the group:

      MESSAGES       The number of messages in the mailbox.

      RECENT         The number of messages with the \Recent flag set.

      UIDNEXT        The next UID value that will be assigned to a new
                     message in the mailbox.  It is guaranteed that this
                     value will not change unless new messages are added
                     to the mailbox; and that it will change when new
                     messages are added even if those new messages are
                     subsequently expunged.

      UIDVALIDITY    The unique identifier validity value of the
                     mailbox.

      UNSEEN         The number of messages which do not have the \Seen
                     flag set.

Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Kai Großjohann]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:

> On Tue, 28 Aug 2001, Kai Großjohann wrote:
>
>> What could be the data that IMAP can deliver faster?
>
> Most things except highest and lowest article number in the group:

Hm.  Interesting.  Maybe what's really desired, then, is to change the
backend interface such that the low/high numbers aren't used if the
number of unread extra information is provided?

Of course, that seems more extensive than the previous change that I
suggested.

kai
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Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Joe Casadonte]

On Mon, 27 Aug 2001, Kai Großjohann wrote:

> When I `g'et new news, nnimap tells me it's ``Checking mailbox foo''
> for every nnimap group I've got.  This is much faster than the
> ``Updating info for foo'' which I got when I started with nnimap.
> But still, if you have many groups, it takes quite a bit of time.
> My boss is complaining about it...

This is what I was complaining about several weeks ago!  With the help
of the folks here (including yourself, Kai), I switched from secondary
servers to foreign servers and all is well.  Here's from my original
post:

> 2) Again, despite attempts to change the behavior (mostly with
>    levels)
> I cannot avoid having nnimap check every folder when I do a
> gnus-group-get-new-news.  The folders don't /activate/, mind you, but
> I have to sit thru every one of them being checked.


--
Regards,

joe
Joe Casadonte
jcasadonte@northbound-train.com

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Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Amos Gouaux]

>>>>> On 27 Aug 2001 18:17:53 -0400,
>>>>> Joe Casadonte <jcasadonte@northbound-train.com> (jc) writes:

jc> On Mon, 27 Aug 2001, Kai Großjohann wrote:
>> When I `g'et new news, nnimap tells me it's ``Checking mailbox foo''
>> for every nnimap group I've got.  This is much faster than the
>> ``Updating info for foo'' which I got when I started with nnimap.
>> But still, if you have many groups, it takes quite a bit of time.
>> My boss is complaining about it...

jc> This is what I was complaining about several weeks ago!  With the help
jc> of the folks here (including yourself, Kai), I switched from secondary
jc> servers to foreign servers and all is well.  Here's from my original
jc> post:

I deal with it by putting things at different levels.

Seems a shame though to have to manually calculate if there's new
mail.  I thought if you select a folder (or a 'noop' if folder
already selected) the server will tell you if there's new mail since
the last operation, assuming a persistent connection is maintained.

Yeah, here's a session:

. select "inbox"
* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Forwarded $MDNSent gnus-expire gnus-save gnus-forward)
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen $Forwarded $MDNSent gnus-expire gnus-save gnus-forward \*)]
* 3748 EXISTS
* 0 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 856998971]
* OK [UIDNEXT 81231]
. OK [READ-WRITE] Completed

(Okay, so I've got a large inbox.)

I then sent a message to myself....

. noop
* 3749 EXISTS
* 1 RECENT
. OK Completed


Seems a shame not to take advantage of that some how.

-- 
Amos

Re: nnimap: Checking mailbox foo

[Kai Großjohann]

"Joe Casadonte" <jcasadonte@northbound-train.com> writes:

> On Mon, 27 Aug 2001, Kai Großjohann wrote:
>
>> When I `g'et new news, nnimap tells me it's ``Checking mailbox foo''
>> for every nnimap group I've got.  This is much faster than the
>> ``Updating info for foo'' which I got when I started with nnimap.
>> But still, if you have many groups, it takes quite a bit of time.
>> My boss is complaining about it...
>
> This is what I was complaining about several weeks ago!  With the help
> of the folks here (including yourself, Kai), I switched from secondary
> servers to foreign servers and all is well.

But you want to avoid having Gnus check them at all.  I do want the
check, I just want it to be a bit faster :-)

kai
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