Re: noatime on ufs2

On Tue, Jan 9, 2024, at 04:47, void wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 08, 2024 at 12:41:02PM -0800, Xin LI wrote:
>>On Sun, Jan 7, 2024 at 5:27 AM void <void@f-m.fm> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Does /var/mail still need atime?
>>>
>>> I've installed a ufs2-based -current main-n267425-aa1223ac3afc on
>>> rpi4/8BG which installs into one / . If it's mounted with noatime,
>>> will it have consequences for /var/mail ?
>>
>>
>>It doesn't matter if you don't normally receive emails locally (nowadays,
>>it's rare).
>
> I read the periodic ones locally
>
>>If you do receive emails locally, it depends on what application(s) that
>>you are using.  
>
> In this type of context it'll be either exim or dma with mutt used for reading
> the emails. It'll be in whatever the default format is (mbox?)

set mbox_type=Maildir forces Mutt to use the Maildir format. I remember one or more of Postfix, Procmail, Mutt, and Dovecot assuming the Maildir format for any folder or spool file that ended in a /. 

>
>>Most applications nowadays check both mtime and atime plus
>>sizes of the mailbox file and do not rely on atime (because they saved the
>>previous mtime).  Without atime updates, some application may claim that
>>you have new mail when the mailbox is not empty when they first start.
>>
>>That's said, if I were you and I'm using some flash based storage (with rpi
>>it's highly likely) regardless if I'm using mail locally; most of the time
>>the data is not really useful for anything, and it does increase the wear
>>of your storage.
>
> Good to know. When installing, the opportunity to define partitions
> didn't arise because the image was installed by dd to
> media that will run the system (in this case a hard disk)
>
> I was concerned that email might not work right without atime.
> So far, it seems to be working OK.
>
> My fstab in part looks like this:
>
> /dev/ufs/rootfs / ufs rw,noatime,async  1   1
>
> (async is fine because the system won't be used for data that
> needs to be kept locally, and it's connected to a UPS)
> --