31 Jul
2014
31 Jul
'14
1:12 p.m.
Are list messages being actively archived and put online anywhere these
days? I have a shade over 68,000 messages in my classiccmp folder, going
back to 2008, and Thunderbird is about ready to explode.
I need to have a clear-out; can I delete them because they're available
somewhere, or am I better off keeping a snapshot of what I have? I'm sure
other people have offline copies too, but I'm more interested in them being
immediately accessible should I want to refer back to something I know I've
seen in the past. If I remember right, the archives on classiccmp.org
itself have always been a bit patchy.
(Thunderbird question: If it is sane for me to keep them, do I just need
the 'classiccmp' file at ~300MB, or do I also need the 'classiccmp.msf'
file at ~36MB? I'm not sure if the latter's perhaps just an index which
will get regenerated in its absence anyway?)
thanks
Jules
31 Jul
31 Jul
1:25 p.m.
On 07/31/2014 04:12 PM, Jules Richardson wrote:
Are list messages being actively archived and put online anywhere these
days? I have a shade over 68,000 messages in my classiccmp folder, going
back to 2008, and Thunderbird is about ready to explode.
I need to have a clear-out; can I delete them because they're available
somewhere, or am I better off keeping a snapshot of what I have? I'm
sure other people have offline copies too, but I'm more interested in
them being immediately accessible should I want to refer back to
something I know I've seen in the past. If I remember right, the
archives on classiccmp.org itself have always been a bit patchy.
(Thunderbird question: If it is sane for me to keep them, do I just need
the 'classiccmp' file at ~300MB, or do I also need the 'classiccmp.msf'
file at ~36MB? I'm not sure if the latter's perhaps just an index which
will get regenerated in its absence anyway?)
thanks
Jules
I've had TBird folders over 300MB work fine. And the msf file is just
an index that gets rebuilt when you look in the folder with TBird. You
can nuke it, but it will come back.
If you're worried about folder size, make sure you install & use the
Remove Duplicate Message extension. You could also split it out into
folders by decades....
--
--- Dave Woyciesjes
--- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/
--- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/
Registered Linux user number 464583
Can be found on IRC - #bikeshed on irc.dal.net
"Computers have lots of memory but no imagination."
"The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back."
- from some guy on the internet.
1:43 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
[...]
Thunderbird [...]
[...]
1:58 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
On 07/31/2014 04:43 PM, Mouse wrote:
Actually, if there's Thunderbird expertise here....
Is there any way to make it use an external program for editing
messages, akin to Firefox's It's All Text for text fields? I didn't
find any, but it's reasonably likely I just missed something....
(No, I don't use Thunderbird. This is for someone at work.)
Not aware of any. Know why they want something else?
--
--- Dave Woyciesjes
--- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/
--- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/
Registered Linux user number 464583
Can be found on IRC - #bikeshed on irc.dal.net
"Computers have lots of memory but no imagination."
"The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back."
- from some guy on the internet.
[...] Thunderbird [...]
[...]
8:34 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
> Is there any way to make [Thunderbird] use an
external program for
> editing messages, akin to Firefox's It's All Text for text fields?
> (No, I don't use Thunderbird. This is for
someone at work.)
Not aware of any. Know why they want something else?
My impression is that it's basically the same motivation behind It's
All Text: being used to using emacs, or vim, or whatever, and wanting
to continue using it.
Personally, I can understand such a feeling; I wrote my own MUA, so I
have an interface I like, but I would have trouble tolerating one that
didn't let me use my editor of choice for composing messages.
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
5:59 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
Mouse wrote:
Actually, if there's Thunderbird expertise
here....
Is there any way to make it use an external program for editing
messages, akin to Firefox's It's All Text for text fields? I didn't
find any, but it's reasonably likely I just missed something....
(No, I don't use Thunderbird. This is for someone at work.)
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
I am still using Netscape 7.2 which I think applies.
Whenever I have an e-mail or, more usually, a post from classiccmp
that needs changing, I make a COPY of that one e-mail or post all
by itself. Just to be sure, I then "Compact Folders", or <ALT/F>,
to be sure that I have a valid msf file. I usually keep a folder (with
a name at 8 characters or less) empty just for this purpose. After I
shut down Netscape, I then COPY/B the two files (both the TEMP.
and the TEMP.msf) to a separate directory (usually to another partition).
At that point, I find that plain old "edit.com" (it is also present on my
32-Bit Windows XP although I am still using Windows 98SE) is
able to look at the all text fields and modify anything than needs
changing in the e-mail or post. Most often, I need to take out the
word "SPAM" from the "Subject:" since my mail server tends
to add that annoying word to what it thinks is an unsolicited e-mail.
I do all that using a DOS box. When I am satisfied with the modified
e-mail, I then DELETE the original TEMP. and TEMP.msf files from
the original directory under Netscape and COPY/B both the new
TEMP. and TEMP.msf files back to the original Netscape directory.
After that I again bring up Netscape and look at the contents of the
modified e-mail in the TEMP folder. If I am satisfied, I delete the
original e-mail and copy the modified e-mail back to its original folder.
I realize that this is a tedious method, but I don't need to do it very
often and certainly not on a mass basis. The key point is that the
TEMP. file is all ASCII text, so probably any normal (stupid)
editor will be OK.
Let me know if you have any other questions and if you solve the
problem in a different manner - and if it worked for you since
others might also need this solution.
Jerome Fine
6:59 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
On 7/31/2014 8:59 PM, Jerome H. Fine wrote:
{laughing}
--
--- Dave Woyciesjes
--- CompTIA A+ Certified IT Tech - http://certification.comptia.org/
--- HDI Certified Support Center Analyst - http://www.ThinkHDI.com/
Registered Linux user number 464583
Can be found on IRC - #bikeshed on irc.dal.net
"Computers have lots of memory but no imagination."
"The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back."
- from some guy on the internet.
Mouse wrote:
Actually, if there's Thunderbird expertise
here....
Is there any way to make it use an external program for editing
messages, akin to Firefox's It's All Text for text fields? I didn't
find any, but it's reasonably likely I just missed something....
(No, I don't use Thunderbird. This is for someone at work.)
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
I am still using Netscape 7.2 which I think applies.
Whenever I have an e-mail or, more usually, a post from classiccmp
that needs changing, I make a COPY of that one e-mail or post all
by itself. Just to be sure, I then "Compact Folders", or <ALT/F>,
to be sure that I have a valid msf file. I usually keep a folder (with
a name at 8 characters or less) empty just for this purpose. After I
shut down Netscape, I then COPY/B the two files (both the TEMP.
and the TEMP.msf) to a separate directory (usually to another partition).
At that point, I find that plain old "edit.com" (it is also present on my
32-Bit Windows XP although I am still using Windows 98SE) is
able to look at the all text fields and modify anything than needs
changing in the e-mail or post. Most often, I need to take out the
word "SPAM" from the "Subject:" since my mail server tends
to add that annoying word to what it thinks is an unsolicited e-mail.
I do all that using a DOS box. When I am satisfied with the modified
e-mail, I then DELETE the original TEMP. and TEMP.msf files from
the original directory under Netscape and COPY/B both the new
TEMP. and TEMP.msf files back to the original Netscape directory.
After that I again bring up Netscape and look at the contents of the
modified e-mail in the TEMP folder. If I am satisfied, I delete the
original e-mail and copy the modified e-mail back to its original folder.
I realize that this is a tedious method, but I don't need to do it very
often and certainly not on a mass basis. The key point is that the
TEMP. file is all ASCII text, so probably any normal (stupid)
editor will be OK.
Let me know if you have any other questions and if you solve the
problem in a different manner - and if it worked for you since
others might also need this solution.
Jerome Fine 
6:29 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
On 07/31/2014 01:43 PM, Mouse wrote:
Actually, if there's Thunderbird expertise here....
Is there any way to make it use an external program for editing
messages, akin to Firefox's It's All Text for text fields? I didn't
find any, but it's reasonably likely I just missed something....
(No, I don't use Thunderbird. This is for someone at work.)
Something like this?
http://globs.org/articles.php?pg=2&lng=en
I use Thunderbird, but I'm happy with the internal editor.
--Chuck
[...] Thunderbird [...]
[...]
8:30 p.m.
New subject: (A different) Thunderbird question
> Is there any way to make [Thunderbird] use an
external program for
> editing messages, akin to Firefox's It's All Text for text fields?
Something like this?
Ooh, yes, that sounds very much like a suitable extension. I'll have
to see, of course, but it sounds promising. Thank you very much!
/~\ The ASCII Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
X Against HTML mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email! 7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39 4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B
1 Aug
1 Aug
7:34 a.m.
On 07/31/2014 03:25 PM, Dave Woyciesjes wrote:
I've had TBird folders over 300MB work fine.
I don't think it's the overall size as such, but the number of messages -
switching to my classiccmp folder takes ~10 seconds of unresponsive UI
(unlike other folders with far fewer messages in them), and bringing up a
message for display takes a few seconds, too.
And the msf file is just
an index that gets rebuilt when you look in the folder with TBird. You can
nuke it, but it will come back.
Thanks, at least I know I don't need to worry about preserving it.
You could also split it out into folders by
decades....
I'm not sure if there's a burden placed on tbird for all folders that it
knows about, though - i.e. if more system resources are consumed by folders
that the user might not even look at. Having the classiccmp archive
'offline' to tbird might be beneficial; it's very rare that I want to refer
back to something, but it does happen, so I want to make sure I have my own
archive if there isn't a maintained one online.
cheers
Jules
2 Aug
2 Aug
7:52 a.m.
On 01/08/14 10:34 AM, Jules Richardson wrote:
On 07/31/2014 03:25 PM, Dave Woyciesjes wrote:
> I've had TBird folders over 300MB work fine.
Mine run to gigabytes.
I don't think it's the overall size as such, but the number of messages
- switching to my classiccmp folder takes ~10 seconds of unresponsive UI
I have 25,000 in mine and it switches instantly.
I'm on OS X, PowerPC.
--Toby
(unlike other folders with far fewer messages in
them), and bringing up
a message for display takes a few seconds, too.
And the msf file is just
an index that gets rebuilt when you look in the folder with TBird. You
can
nuke it, but it will come back.
Thanks, at least I know I don't need to worry about preserving it.
You could also split it out into folders by
decades....
I'm not sure if there's a burden placed on tbird for all folders that it
knows about, though - i.e. if more system resources are consumed by
folders that the user might not even look at. Having the classiccmp
archive 'offline' to tbird might be beneficial; it's very rare that I
want to refer back to something, but it does happen, so I want to make
sure I have my own archive if there isn't a maintained one online.
cheers
Jules
3794
days inactive
3796
days old
10 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
cclist＠sydex.com -
jhfinedp3k＠compsys.to -
jules.richardson99＠gmail.com -
mouse＠Rodents-Montreal.ORG -
toby＠telegraphics.com.au -
woyciesjes＠sbcglobal.net