mb2md - understanding directories and locations

[Todd Slater]

Hi Wade,

On 10/30/06, wade at wadesmart.com <wade at wadesmart.com> wrote:
>
>
> > -------- Original Message --------
> > Subject: Re: mb2md - understanding directories and locations
> > From: "Todd Slater" <dontodd at gmail.com>
> > Date: Mon, October 30, 2006 7:51 pm
> > To: "Ubuntu user technical support, not for general discussions"
> > <ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> >
> > On 10/30/06, wade at wadesmart.com <wade at wadesmart.com> wrote:
> > > 10302006 1908 GMT-6
> > >
> > > I have made some backup directories of my mail and I have been
> > > experimenting.
> > >
> > > For those who understand what they are supposed to look like (maildirs),
> > > after runing this command:
> > > mb2md -s /current_file_location -d /new_file_destination -R
> > > I have this:
> > >
> > > /new_file_destination/
> > >   /cur
> > >   /new
> > >   /tmp
> > >
> > >   /.Business
> > >     /cur
> > >      /1162256029.000000.mbox:2,S
> > >
> > >   /.Business_sbd.Awareness Life
> > >     /cur
> > >       /1162256082.000000.mbox:2,S
> > >
> > >
> > > What Im getting at is, Im not sure I understand what Im supposed to be
> > > seeing.
> > > It seems that under some of this folders there are /cur with items it
> > > them and under others, there isnt.
> > > I had folders that I used to store mail in when I used Thunderbird and
> > > then later in Evolution. Is this creating a /cur /new and /tmp under
> > > each and every folder?
> > >
> > > wade
> >
> > Yes, maildir creates a directory structure with cur/, new/, and tmp/
> > for every folder. Obviously you have to tell the program where to find
> > your mbox files so it can convert them to maildir's.
> >
> > Todd
> >
> > --
>
> 10302006 2012 GMT-6
>
> Ok. So let me ask this then.
> One of the folders I had set up in Evolution was titled business and
> some subfolders under that.
>  /Business
>   Awareness Life
>   Beryl
>   Currency
>   Wireless
>
>    /Wireless
>      LocustWorld
>      WISP
>
>      /WISP
>        Linux
>        WiMax
>        WISP-Equip
>
>
> That is how it looks now in the /fixmail folder.
> After I run the mb2md I end up with
>
>  /maildir
>    /cur  0
>    /new  0
>    /tmp  0
>
>    .Business_sbd
>      /cur  0
>      /new  0
>      /tmp  0
>    .Business_sbd.Awareness Life
>      /cur  171
>      /new  0
>      /tmp  0
>    .Business.sbd.Beryl
>      /cur  23
>      /new  0
>      /tmp  0
>
> Now, I guess what Im not totally getting is, I see that .Business_sbd
> has three folders under it but it itself doesnt store mail, its just a
> folder for other folders. Should I just copy all the mail documents
> only as in Awareness Life, Beryl, Currency and Wirelss, plus the ones
> under other sub folders and then just have mb2md run on those only? But
> if I do that, how will my rules work in my mail client?
>
> Also, every folder under has _sbd on the end of it.
> Like .Business_sbd, .Business_sbd.Awareness Life, Business_sbd.Beryl and
> so on.
>
> Im just wondering what that _sbd is and can it be stripped off?
>
> wade

I don't know enough about what you're trying to do to help. My guess
is that _sbd might mean 'subdirectory' and the the additional dots (.)
refer to nested folders. Since you are switching from mbox to maildir
I assume you'd have to update the rules in your mail client to reflect
your new setup, but I don't know for sure. Does the mb2md script have
an author/support option?

The one time I switched from mbox to maildir I did it with mutt. I
think I just opened my mbox file, but told mutt my mail type was
maildir, selected all messages in my mbox and copied them to another
folder and voila, I had them in maildir.

Just curious, is there any particular reason you're switching? It
sounds like you have a system set up, I'm just wondering about the
cost/benefit analysis.

Good luck,

Todd