[Dovecot] Running a dovecot IMAPS server

[Timothy Murphy]

On Sun 16 Sep 2007, Jos Vos wrote:

> > Just to be clear what I am saying.
> > Suppose you have a standard maildir setup on computer X,
> > with directories ~/Maildir/inbox/[cur,new,tmp]/ ,
> > ~/Maildir/family/[cur,new,tmp]/ , etc.
> >
> > Suppose now you start dovecot IMAP on computer X.
> > Then you will not be able to see the family folder on computer Y,
> > running as an IMAP client, ie with an IMAP kmail account
> > pointing to computer X.
> >
> > If I am right, you have to re-organise and re-name the folders on X
> > if you want to see them on Y.
> > And if you do this, you can no longer seem them on X with kmail.
>
> Dovecot has both mbox and Maildir format support.

I find the statement that dovecot has maildir format support misleading.

By maildir support, I mean that mail is contained in directories
~/Maildir/inbox/[cur,new,tmp], ~/Maildir/Family/[cur.new.tmp],
~/Maildir/Finance/[cur,new,tmp], etc.

This is the setup created if one runs kmail as mail client,
specifying that one is using maildir format,
and using the GUI to create new folders Family, Finance, etc.

As far as I can see, if you now set up an IMAP server using dovecot
on this machine, setting 
	mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir/
in /etc/dovecot.conf
then the email in the folders Family, Finance, etc
will not be seen by an IMAP client.

> But as soon as you have an e-mail klant using a non-supported mailbox
> format *or* that is storing mail folders in a supported format but in
> a non-standard place, tour theory applies, yes.

What is the "standard" place for mail folders?

> See also <http://wiki.dovecot.org/> for more info about this all.

I've studied that wiki, and not found clear information on this point.

To clarify my question, suppose one has email organised in server X
as described above, in directories ~/Maildir/Family/[cur.new.tmp/ , etc.
And now suppose one wants to access this email from laptop Y.
How exactly does one have to change the setup on machine X?
And what does one set mail_location to?

It seems to me that this is an issue likely to be faced by anyone
wanting to run a small home network.
reading email on various machines,
and wanting this email to be kept "in sync".

Maybe dovecot is not a suitable program for this purpose?