[Dovecot] Telnet access creates new maildir folders

[Seasoul]

Hi Fabio,

Many thnaks for your prompt reply, I was typing the below :)
So my path for mail_location is /var/mail/vmail/%d/%u but apparently that's
not what happens..any idea why ?

My dovecot.conf:

# 1.0.15: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

log_timestamp: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
protocols: imap imaps pop3 pop3s
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3-login
first_valid_gid: 0
last_valid_gid: 12000
mail_privileged_group: mail
mail_location: maildir:/var/mail/vmail/%d/%u
mail_executable(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3
mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/imap
mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/imap
mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/pop3
pop3_uidl_format(default):
pop3_uidl_format(imap):
pop3_uidl_format(pop3): %08Xu%08Xv
auth default:
  mechanisms: plain login
  passdb:
    driver: pam
  passdb:
    driver: sql
    args: /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
  userdb:
    driver: passwd
  userdb:
    driver: sql
    args: /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
  socket:
    type: listen
    client:
      path: /var/spool/postfix/private/auth
      mode: 432
      user: postfix
      group: postfix

My dovecot-sql.conf (although not sure this is relevant for my issue):

driver = mysql
connect = dbname=postfix user=**** password=**** host=localhost
default_pass_scheme = PLAIN-MD5
password_query = SELECT password FROM mailox WHERE local_part= '%u'
user_query = SELECT home, uid, gid FROM users WHERE userid = '%u'


On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 10:52 AM, Fabio Catunda
<fcatunda at contactnet.com.br>wrote:

> Seasoul,
>
> Right from dovecot.conf:
> # Location for users' mailboxes. This is the same as the old
> default_mail_env
> # setting. The default is empty, which means that Dovecot tries to find the
> # mailboxes automatically. This won't work if the user doesn't have any
> mail
> # yet, so you should explicitly tell Dovecot the full location.
> #
> # If you're using mbox, giving a path to the INBOX file (eg. /var/mail/%u)
> # isn't enough. You'll also need to tell Dovecot where the other mailboxes
> are
> # kept. This is called the "root mail directory", and it must be the first
> # path given in the mail_location setting.
> #
> # There are a few special variables you can use, eg.:
> #
> #   %u - username
> #   %n - user part in user at domain, same as %u if there's no domain
> #   %d - domain part in user at domain, empty if there's no domain
> #   %h - home directory
> #
> # See /usr/share/doc/dovecot-common/wiki/Variables.txt for full list. Some
> # examples:
> #
> #   mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir
> #   mail_location = mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u
> #   mail_location = mbox:/var/mail/%d/%1n/%n:INDEX=/var/indexes/%d/%1n/%n
> #
> # <doc/wiki/MailLocation.txt>
>
> In my case:
> mail_location = maildir:/var/virtual/%Ld/%Ln/Maildir
>
> Just because I prefer this way.
>
> In your case I believe that something like this would be good:
> mail_location = maildir:/var/mail/vmail/%Ln@%Ld
>
> The "L" if for lowercase (I think). In e-mail RFC is specified that mail
> should be case sensitive, but it might give you some problems where people
> send e-mail to foo at domain.com  and FOO at domain.com, as we are working with
> UNIX like OS, these are different folders and different mailboxes.
>
> With best regards,
>
> Fábio Catunda.
>
>
>
> On 12/30/2010 12:40 AM, Seasoul wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>> I am running Dovecot Version 1.0.15on a Debian server, with postfix and
>> postfixadmin.
>> My mailbox base is /var/mail/vmail
>>
>> When I send an email to a user1 at domain.com for the first time, the user
>> "mail" creates a set of dovecot folders under /var/mail/vmail/
>> user1 at domain.com/ and my new emails are found in /var/mail/vmail/
>> user1 at domain.com/new
>> When I test my server using telnet (telnet domain.com 110), I can log in
>> fine as a user1, but when I type "LIST", it tells me there are no emails.
>> And I realize a new set of dovecot folders were created under
>> /var/mail/vmail/user1/ ! The folders are created by the user "user1".
>> Obviously the folder "new" under that is empty, since my emails received
>> are
>> in /var/mail/vmail/user1 at domain.com/new and not /var/mail/vmail/user1/new
>> .
>> Therefore, connecting with an email client via POP also shows an empty
>> inbox.
>>
>> I am lost as to what to do to fix this, and how to let the server know
>> that
>> pop access should be looking into /var/mail/vmail/user1 at domain.com/instead
>> of /var/mail/vmail/user1/ .
>>
>> Hopefully someone on this list will be able to save me from my misery :)
>>
>> Cheers
>> Sea
>>
>>