Pine mboxes to mysql maybe?
Jason Dixon
jason at dixongroup.net
Fri Dec 31 21:00:49 UTC 2004
On Dec 31, 2004, at 3:27 PM, Northrup, Wilson wrote:
> For years I've been using PINE to read mail. It's really been fine but
> after realizing my mailbox alone has gigs of mail, perhaps it is time
> to
> change. It seems that having email stored in a database would allow
> faster
> and perhaps easier searching over using grep/sed to find a particular
> message.
>
> Ultimately, I'd like to have a setup that offers some type of text mail
> interface (PINE MUTT, maybe something else?) that I can use through
> SSH,
> but also a web interface which includes the ability to search for
> keywords
> throughout ones entire mail store.
>
> There are lots of options available, I'd be interested in hearing any
> experiences from others who may have done a similar conversion already.
I've never heard of anything like that, short of something like
Exchange or Open-Xchange (or any other myriad of groupware servers).
It sounds like you're proposing a completely new alternative to mbox or
maildir, since it would require the MTA to deliver it to the database
via an understood format. I highly doubt you'll find anything like
this, particularly since text-based clients only understand one or both
of the standard mail formats.
Nevertheless, you've brought up a good point that I'm surprised hasn't
been touched on elsewhere. The proliferation of email in our daily
lives, coupled with the availability of enterprise-capable OSS
databases, makes me think this is a problem ripe for a solution. I'd
like to think that Postfix (for example) could support a drop-in SQL
local/virtual delivery mechanism.
Long story short, I don't think you'll find what you're looking for
right now. An alternative might be to use some home-grown script (run
via cron) to convert your mbox files into SQL. But that still won't
give you a ready-made web interface for your data. It can all be done,
it's just a matter of someone doing it.
--
Jason Dixon
DixonGroup Consulting
http://www.dixongroup.net
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