[gnu.emacs.bug] RMAIL saves take a long time

cel@THEORY.LCS.MIT.EDU (09/25/88)

Our network of Microvax II workstations just converted to Unix 4.3
running NFS that has emacs with version:
GNU Emacs 18.50.8 of Sat Mar 26 1988 on allspice (berkeley-unix)

We used to run Unix 4.2 with a much older version of Emacs.

Here's the observed phenomenon (bug?).  When RMAIL starts up, or when
I type "q" from RMAIL, the time it takes to save about 150 messages
often exceeds 30 seconds.  (It sits that long with the message "Saving
file /u/cel/RMAIL...".)  In our old system with the older version of
Emacs, it took a few seconds at worst.  Moreover, saving a file of
comparable length in the new system with C-X C-S takes only a few
seconds.  I have also noticed this problem on my Sun 3 at Thinking
Machines, which also runs the combination of 4.3, NFS, and Emacs (the
file server is a VAX).  (I always thought it was just that their
machines were overloaded.)

Does anyone have any idea what's going on?  Does this problem exist
elsewhere?  Is it Emac's problem?  Is it NFS's problem?  Is it
4.3's problem?  (Yeah, I know---it's *my* problem.)