[Dovecot] Long delay checking mail with POP w/plain auth

[david hardy]

I just switched from UW-IMAP to dovecot, and it all went smooth, except now I get a 4-5 second 
delay after connecting to the POP3 server (IMAP is fine). If I switch to auth 
"mechanisms=login", it is instantaneous - the delay is gone. In my logs I am getting :

Jul  9 12:21:03 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): client in: AUTH       1       PLAIN 
service=pop3    lip=205.168.236.    rip=205.168.236.      lport=110       rport=62500 
resp=<hidden>
Jul  9 12:21:03 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): plain(?,205.168.236.): invalid input
Jul  9 12:21:03 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): new auth connection: pid=2750
Jul  9 12:21:03 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): client out: FAIL      1


and then it tries again apparently, and succeeds:


Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): client in: AUTH       2       PLAIN 
service=pop3    lip=205.168.236.    rip=205.168.236.      lport=110       rport=62500 
resp=<hidden>
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(divad,205.168.236.): lookup 
service=dovecot
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(divad,205.168.236.): #1/1 style=1 
msg=Password:
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): client out: OK        2       user=divad
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): master in: REQUEST    217     2552    2
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): passwd(divad,205.168.236.): lookup
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: auth(default): master out: USER      217     divad 
system_groups_user=divad      uid= gid= home=/home/david
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: pop3-login: Login: user=<divad>, method=PLAIN, 
rip=205.168.236., lip=205.168.236.
Jul  9 12:21:08 haleakala dovecot: POP3(divad): Disconnected: Logged out top=0/0, retr=0/0, 
del=0/0, size=0

This "invalid input" error is happening for many clients on our mail server, but I am using 
Thunderbird 2.0.0.12.

The problem with using just "login" as a mechanism is that it doesn't seem to work with our 
Horde/IMP webmail system.

here is dovecot -n:
# 1.2.0: /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 2.6.18-1.2239.fc5smp i686 Fedora Core release 5 (Bordeaux)
protocols: imap imaps pop3 pop3s
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /usr/local/var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable(default): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(imap): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(pop3): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login
login_greeting: Planetmind dovecot server ready.
mail_location: mbox:~/mail:INBOX=~/mail/mbox
mail_executable(default): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(imap): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(pop3): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/pop3
mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/pop3
pop3_uidl_format(default): %08Xu%08Xv
pop3_uidl_format(imap): %08Xu%08Xv
pop3_uidl_format(pop3): %08Xv%08Xu
auth default:
   mechanisms: PLAIN
   failure_delay: 0
   verbose: yes
   debug: yes
   passdb:
     driver: pam
   userdb:
     driver: passwd


If anyone could shed some light on this, I'd really appreciate it. TIA.

-David



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  David Hardy
  Planetmind Internetworks
  Nedernet, Inc
  ph 303.258.1103
  http://www.planetmind.net
  http://www.nedernet.net
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