[Dovecot] a <blush> build/install question

[Stewart Dean]

Thanks, Troy......
but it looks to me like you're compiling on your production machine, 
no?  Which I have decided not to do, since leaving a compiler on them 
means that people that manage to break in can do nastier things....

Troy Engel wrote:
> Stewart Dean wrote:
>>
>> Alas, when I actually tried to run dovecot, it was asking for its 
>> resource /in the original build tree/ location, which wasn't there.  
>> Is there some way I can do what I want?
>
> While I haven't done this specifically with Dovecot, you should be 
> able to manage everything in a simple manner like you want; I 
> currently do this with Exim and Courier-IMAP on the old production 
> server solely with switches to ./configure. Here's how it basically 
> works, maybe it'll help you get dovecot working:
>
> Source:
> /opt/build/courer-imap-1.2.3
>
> $ ./configure --prefix=/opt/courier-imap-1.2.3 
> --with-authchangepwdir=${exec_prefix}/libexec/authlib 
> --with-makedatprog=${exec_prefix}/libexec/makedatprog (more and more 
> switches that don't matter for this)
>
> After building, a simple "make install" places everything in 
> /opt/courier-1.2.3. Then there's a symlink like so:
>
> /opt/courier-imap -> /opt/courier-1.2.3
>
> ...and finally the /etc/init.d/ script loads the actual courier 
> processes using /opt/courier-imap, not the "standard" /usr based 
> things (so you'll need to customize to fit the default dovecot init.d 
> script).
>
> When I upgrade (or downgrade) it's as simple as running the same 
> scenario on the new code (which means a new make install does not 
> overwrite the old), migrate the config files as needed, stop the old 
> daemon, switch the symlink, then start the new daemon up. Users don't 
> see interruption in their email experience and I'm confident of a 
> backup plan in an emergency.
>
> This has been working great for many years upgrading Courier and Exim 
> on the same machine; rarely do I have to fall back but when it does 
> happen it's been as simple as pie.
>
> -te
>

-- 
====
Stewart Dean, Unix System Admin, Henderson Computer Resources 
Center of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York  12504  
sdean at bard.edu  voice: 845-758-7475, fax: 845-758-7035