Notmuch tags when OfflineIMAP creates a new folder with the same messages

[David Bremner]

"Jorge" <jorge+list at disroot.org> writes:

> Hi.  I work at Dataprev (a Brazilian state-owned federal IT company),
> and here we use an email implementation called Expresso 3.0.  I access
> it via OfflineIMAP 7.2.1 on Debian buster.  Recently I have gained
> access to a shared folder hierarchy called "demandas.dica" (with Drafts,
> Sent and Trash subfolders).  OfflineIMAP could not handle it because its
> name contains a "." which is the default sep character.
>
> On the OfflineIMAP mailing list, Nicolas Sebrecht recommended I choose
> another sep character.  I would choose '+', but I have not yet
> configured it.  What is holding me back is the fear that, when I set
> sep = "+", OfflineIMAP will create a new 'INBOX+Sent' folder in place of
> the current 'INBOX.Sent' and ditto for lots of other folders.  Nicolas
> confirmed this is how OfflineIMAP will behave.
>
> So my last doubt is, will Notmuch recognize that the emails are the
> same, and keep my tags?  Then after Notmuch indexes the "new" (renamed
> copies) folders, can I delete the original folders?

I _think_ it should be OK. Notmuch
  1) Tracks file renames
  2) Attaches tags to message-ids, not to files.

As a precaution, it is always worthwhile to have a "notmuch dump" and or
full backup before attempting anything drastic.

d