long delays when checking a maildir format mailbox

[eravin]

Configuration Information [Automatically generated, do not change]:
Machine: i386
OS: netbsdelf2.0
Compiler: gcc
Compilation CFLAGS:  -DPROGRAM='bash' -DCONF_HOSTTYPE='i386' 
-DCONF_OSTYPE='netbsdelf2.0' -DCONF_MACHTYPE='i386-unknown-netbsdelf2.0' 
-DCONF_VENDOR='unknown' -DLOCALEDIR='/pkg/bash-3.0-p1/share/locale' 
-DPACKAGE='bash' -DSHELL  -DHAVE_CONFIG_H  -I.  -I. -I./include -I./lib  
-I/usr/local/include -Wl,-Map,/tmp/pipes/bash-3.0-p1
uname output: NetBSD panix5.panix.com 2.0 NetBSD 2.0 (PANIX-USER) #3: Thu Jan 
13 20:20:38 EST 2005  
root@trinity.nyc.access.net:/devel/netbsd/2.0/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/PANIX-USER
 i386
Machine Type: i386-unknown-netbsdelf2.0

Bash Version: 3.0
Patch Level: 0
Release Status: release

Description:
Our environment uses maildir format mailboxes.  When a user has a large
mailbox, bash takes a very long time (sometimes 60-120 seconds on a mailbox
with 5000 messages in it) when doing the "new mail check".  The more
messages in the mailbox, the worse the problem gets.


Repeat-By:
  With a large maildir mailbox of 2500 or more messages, set $MAIL
appropriately and wait for a new message to come in.  You will encounter
long pauses between commands when Bash checks for new mail.