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Maildir
EntityQ1246497· pop 11· linked from 28 articles

The Maildir e-mail format is a common way of storing email messages on a file system, rather than in a database. Each message is assigned a file with a unique name, and each mail folder is a file system directory containing these files. Maildir was designed by Daniel J. Bernstein circa 1995, with a major goal of eliminating the need for program code to handle file locking and unlocking through use of the local filesystem. Maildir design reflects the fact that the only operations valid for an email message is that it be created, deleted or have its status changed in some way.

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inception
2000-00-00
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~9 min read

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11 sections
Contents
  • Specifications
  • Maildir++
  • Technical operation
  • File-system compatibility issues
  • Software that supports Maildir directly
  • [[Mail Transfer Agent|Mail servers]]
  • [[Mail delivery agent|Delivery agents]]
  • [[Mail user agent|Mail readers]]
  • Notes and references
  • See also
  • External links

The Maildir e-mail format is a common way of storing email messages on a file system, rather than in a database. Each message is assigned a file with a unique name, and each mail folder is a file system directory containing these files. Maildir was designed by Daniel J. Bernstein circa 1995, with a major goal of eliminating the need for program code to handle file locking and unlocking through use of the local filesystem. Maildir design reflects the fact that the only operations valid for an email message is that it be created, deleted or have its status changed in some way.

frame|Internal structure

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