[Dovecot] shared/public mailbox doesn't exist

[Eric Shubert]

Eric Shubert wrote:
> I have 3 servers running dovecot 1.0.10. 2 of them are configured with a
> shared/public namespace, but I'm having trouble getting it to work on
> the third, even with 2 working examples to go by. There's something I'm
> missing, and I'm hoping that someone here can see/tell what it is.
> 
> I've created the maildir for sharing:
> # cd /home/vpopmail/domains/mydomain.com
> # maildirmake shared
> # chown -R vpopmail:vchkpw shared
> 
> Then added the configuration to dovecot.conf:
> # shared namespace
> namespace shared {
>    separator = .
>    prefix = shared.
>    location = maildir:/home/vpopmail/domains/mydomain.com/shared
> }
> 
> Restarted dovecot:
> # service dovecot restart
> 
> When I try to subscribe to the shared namespace though with Outlook, I 
> get: "Failed to subscribe the folder. Server responded: 'Mailbox doesn't
> exist: shared'." When I try to subscribe with Squirrelmail I get: 
> "ERROR: Could not complete request.
> Query: SUBSCRIBE "shared"
> Reason Given: [TRYCREATE] Mailbox doesn't exist: shared"
> 
> I've tried various combinations of permissions to no avail.
> 
> Suggestions welcome. I'm at my wits end.
> 

So I created a few subfolders.
# cd /home/vpopmail/domains/mydomain.com/shared
# maildirmake .sub1
# maildirmake .sub2
# chown vpopmail:vchkpw sub*

Voila, sort of. The main folder named 'shared' cannot be subscribed to, 
however sub1 and sub2 can be subscribed to successfully.

Can someone explain why that is?
Thanks.
-- 
-Eric 'shubes'