[Dovecot] DoveCot IMAP and "inconsistent state" messages

[Christer Mjellem Strand]

>> Jul 21 14:27:41 betty dovecot: IMAP(foobar): Maildir
>> /var/vpopmail/domains/foobar.baz/foobar/Maildir sync: UID inserted in the
>> middle of mailbox (4412 > 4385, file = 1214817167.16333_0.betty:2,RST)
>
> Show your dovecot -n output?

Sorry, should have included that right away.

betty - ~ # dovecot -n
# 1.0.14: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
log_timestamp: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
listen: *:9000
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable: /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_greeting_capability: yes
login_max_processes_count: 256
first_valid_uid: 89
mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir
dotlock_use_excl: yes
maildir_copy_with_hardlinks: yes
maildir_copy_preserve_filename: yes
mail_process_size: 512
mail_plugins: quota imap_quota trash lazy_expunge
imap_client_workarounds: outlook-idle delay-newmail
namespace:
  type: private
  inbox: yes
namespace:
  type: private
  separator: /
  prefix: .Trash/
  location: maildir:~/Maildir/.Trash
  hidden: yes
namespace:
  type: private
  separator: /
  prefix: .Trash/
  location: maildir:~/Maildir/.Trash
  hidden: yes
namespace:
  type: private
  separator: /
  prefix: .Trash/
  location: maildir:~/Maildir/.Trash
  hidden: yes
auth default:
  user: vpopmail
  verbose: yes
  passdb:
    driver: checkpassword
    args: /data/vpopmail/bin/vchkpw
  userdb:
    driver: prefetch
plugin:
  quota: maildir
  trash: /etc/dovecot/dovecot-trash.conf
  lazy_expunge: .Trash/ .Trash/ .Trash/

> I suppose the users don't have direct access to these maildirs, and nothing 
> else besides Dovecot and procmail touches them?

No, this is qmail with Vpopmail, so all mail is owned by the vpopmail user. 
Default MDA is qmail-local, but where procmail filters are enabled, it takes 
over all local delivery, and never hands it back to qmail-local. I haven't 
actively looked for a pattern yet, but from the top of my head, all users I 
can think of experiencing this problem use procmail for delivery.

> This error means that Dovecot lost that file and thought it was
> expunged. But sometimes afterwards it saw the file again.

Hm. What is the normal scenario where something like this might happen, if 
there is such a thing?

>> Any help would be greatly appreciated, as none of my testing thus far have
>> made any difference, and I can't seem to find any hints elsewhere.
>> Could upgrading to 1.1 help at all? (I'd rather not try unless I know for
>> sure)
>
> v1.1 might not remove the root problem, but it will handle this better
> by renaming the file and showing it to client as a new message instead
> of returning "inconsistent state" error.

That does sound more graceful. Squirrelmail shows an error for every dropped 
connection, so the end result is that users are seeing a whole bunch of error 
messages, without actually experiencing any problems (from what I've heard). 
I'd prefer to cure the problem, but if I can't, curing the symptom might be 
adequate.

-- 
  -==-                  -=-                  -==-
   Christer Mjellem Strand               yitzhaq
   System administrator             ICQ: 9557698
   GSM +47 922 000 12     JID: yitzhaq at jabber.no
  -==-                  -=-                  -==-