dovecot - Oct 2022 - mdbox vs. maildir format

On 10/18/22 18:46, Marc wrote:
>> you must not lose the dbox index files, as they can?t be
>> 	regenerated without data loss.
> I have read this also, and was also worried about this, but when I look at
the flat m.988 file, I still have quite a lot of useful data there.
"Note that with dbox the Index files contain significant data which is held
nowhere else. Index files for both sdbox and mdbox contain message flags and
keywords. For mdbox, the index file also contains the map_uids which link (via
the ?map index?) to the actual message data. This data cannot be automatically
recreated, so it is important that Index files are treated with the same care as
message data files."

https://doc.dovecot.org/admin_manual/mailbox_formats/dbox/

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> 
> "Note that with dbox the Index files contain significant data which is
> held nowhere else. Index files for both sdbox and mdbox contain message
> flags and keywords. For mdbox, the index file also contains the map_uids
> which link (via the ?map index?) to the actual message data. This data
> cannot be automatically recreated, so it is important that Index files
> are treated with the same care as message data files."
> 
> https://doc.dovecot.org/admin_manual/mailbox_formats/dbox/
> 
Say you lose the index files. Is it not possible to 'script' the
'm.988' files, so all messages are in mbox format and then convert them
back to mdbox?
To me the most important part of the email is the sender and what and when he
wrote it. I don't even use flags, and I am not sure what keywords is about.