[Dovecot] How Dovecot handles email changed by file operations

[Anand Buddhdev]

Craig Jackson wrote:

> Hi,

Hi Craig,

> Question: If email files are moved between IMAP folders (on the same
> IMAP server or a different one) or deleted using shell scripts, how
> does this impact Dovecot's indexes or its method of keeping track of
> the email? How likely is index or file corruption or race condition?
> An example, is the centralized removal of mail in all users' Junk
> folder older than 30 days.

As far as I know, if you add or remove files to a Maildir, then dovecot
will have no problem. It will rebuild the indexes as necessary. Besides
my IMAP client, I occasionally use mutt to access my Maildirs directly,
and haven't had a problem so far.

What _would_ cause a problem is if you modify the contents of a file in
a Maildir. Dovecot won't notice that, and the change (in the headers)
may not be propagated.

-- 
Anand