mailbox.mbox.add() sets access time as well as modification time

[tinnews at isbd.co.uk]

Grant Edwards <invalid at invalid> wrote:
> On 2009-04-24, Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo at geek-central.gen.new_zealand> wrote:
> > In message <gtudnRY7tapPU2zUnZ2dnUVZ_h6dnZ2d at posted.visi>, Grant Edwards 
> > wrote:
> >
> >> AFAIK, atime<mtime has been the "standard" way to determine
> >> when an mbox contains new mail for at least 20 years.
> >
> > Doesn't apply to maildir though, does it?
> 
> Nope.  With maildir, there's a completely separate directory
> where one puts new messages.
> 
> > Updating atime adds a lot of filesystem overhead; that's why
> > the relatime option was invented <http://lwn.net/Articles/244829/>.
> 
> The relatime should cut down a great deal on system overhead
> and yet still preserves the atime/mtime semantics used by mbox
> clients.
> 
Yes, my filesystems are mounted with relatime set.  It's not much use
if mailbox.mbox.add() doesn't play by the rules though.

mbox has several advantages over maildir (for me anyway):-

    It allows easy removal of empty mailboxes (in my case by the MUA)

    It's much easier to search

    It's easier to move things around

    It doesn't have silly ways of delimiting directories as do some
    maildir implementations.

-- 
Chris Green