[POLL] unexpunge behavior

[Igor Brezac]

On Tue, 3 May 2005, Ken Murchison wrote:

> As most of you probably know (or at least *should* know), removing a message 
> from an IMAP mailstore is a two-step process.  First the message has its 
> \Deleted flag set with the STORE command, then any messages with this flag 
> are expunged using either the EXPUNGE or CLOSE command.  IMAP itself has no 
> concept of a Trash folder.  The Trash folder concept is something that is 
> layered (some say hacked) on top of the delete+expunge model.
>
> Since the most expensive part of the expunge process is actually unlink()ing 
> the message files and rebuilding the cyrus.cache file, in the 2.3 branch of 
> Cyrus we have implemented something we call "delayed expunge".  With delayed 
> expunge, the cyrus.index records of the expunged messages are moved to a 
> cyrus.expunge file, but the message files and cyrus.cache records remain. 
> This has the effect of removing the messages from the server (no message 
> "exists" without a cyrus.index record), without all of the expensive overhead 
> so the client gets more responsive behavior.  The actual completion of the 
> expunge is handled with the cyr_expire utility which is run periodically to 
> unlink() the message files and rewrite the cyrus.cache file.
>
> In addition to providing better performance for client, the fact that the 
> message file and corresponding cache record are left behind provides a window 
> of opportunity for an admin to go back and unexpunge messages if need be.  To 
> this end, I have written an unexpunge utility which simply restores the 
> cyrus.index record of the expunged message to its original content.  Keeping 
> in mind that removing a message is a two-step process, the unexpunge utility 
> (by default) only undoes the second step and reverts the message back to its 
> "deleted but not yet expunged" state.  This means that the \Deleted flag is 
> still set, and depending upon the IMAP client configuration, may appear with 
> an "X" icon, strikethrough text, or be hidden entirely.  To help such 
> clients, I have also implemented a -d option for the unexpunge utility which 
> unsets the \Deleted flag when restoring the message.
>
> So, my question is, what should the *default* behavior of unexpunge be:
>
> A. only unexpunge the message and leave the \Deleted flag set as-is (only 
> undo the expunge step)?
>
> B. unexpunge the message and unset the \Deleted flag (undo both the expunge 
> and delete steps)?
>
>
> I'm of the opinion that A is the correct default behavior and admins can use 
> the -d option as they see fit, but I will make the default behavior whatever 
> the consensus ends up being.
>

I agree with A option being default.

How does quota work?  I assume that a 'deleted message' (before it is 
cyr_expire'd) does not count against quota.

-- 
Igor
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