[Dovecot] Dovecot LDA munging INBOX access times?

[Steven F Siirila]

On Wed, Jun 13, 2007 at 08:30:52PM -0400, John Peacock wrote:
> Steven F Siirila wrote:
> > We are running Dovecot 1.0.0 using mbox format (currently in the midst
> > of conversion from UW IMAP).  We discovered today that the Dovecot LDA
> > is accessing the user's INBOX at delivery time!
> 
> Umm, yeah, that's kind of the point.  mbox format is one big file with all of
> the messages concatenated together.  So if a new message is delivered, then the
> INBOX file has to be opened to append the new message.

Opened as WRITE ONLY APPEND.  That doesn't update last access time.

> This isn't a bug by any
> stretch, but rather a different operational method than what you were expecting.

I'm not claiming this is a bug, it is a major issue for us though.

> I'm guessing that UW IMAP doesn't retrieve new messages until the user asks for
> them (e.g. out of /var/mail/something).  If you are using deliver, it actually,
> you know, _delivers_ the message.  I think that there is a way to have the same
> behavior as UW IMAP, but I don't know off the top of my head how to do that
> (since we use maildir instead).

It isn't the UW IMAP behavior, it is the former MTA's deliver behavior that
is the issue.  Most MTAs (actually MDAs) simply append to the inbox, which
does not update the last access time.

> You may want to check the list archives first,
> rather than claiming dovecot is doing something wrong...

Again, I'm not making such a claim.  I have a problem that needs resolution,
and I seek input from others who may have run into this same issue in the past.

> John
> 
> -- 
> John Peacock
> Director of Information Research and Technology
> Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
> 4501 Forbes Blvd
> Suite H
> Lanham, MD 20706
> 301-459-3366 x.5010
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