[Dovecot] Qmail+Vpopmail+Mysql+Dovecot 2.x (Notes on a successful conversion)

[Aaron]

  SoI had a hell of a time converting my qmail install to dovecot 2.0.5, 
so I thought I'd pass on what I learned.

1. When using vpopmail, do not use " --disable-many-domains".  If you 
do, you'll need to recompile vpopmail without that setting and use the 
script found at 
http://qmailrocks.thibs.com/downloads/scripts/migrate-vpopmail-many-domains 
to collapse the tables.

2.  Switch to mysql authentication.  The following snippet works well.

driver = mysql
connect = host=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock user=vpopmail 
password=YOURPASS dbname=vpopmail
default_pass_scheme = PLAIN
password_query = SELECT CONCAT(pw_name, '@', pw_domain) AS user, 
pw_clear_passwd AS password FROM vpopmail WHERE pw_name = '%n' AND 
pw_domain = '%d'
user_query = SELECT pw_dir as home, 1008 AS uid, 1003 AS gid FROM 
vpopmail WHERE pw_name = '%n' AND pw_domain = '%d'

3.  When integrating Sieve, vpopmail apparently needs to own auth-master 
and authdb. (example available on request)

4.  If coming from maildrop as the LDA, you can put the following in 
your maildroprc to allow a gentler transition (or to keep maildrop's 
ability to call external applications)

`test -r  /usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver`
if ( $RETURNCODE == 0)
         {
         `test -r  $HOME/$EXT/.sieve`
         if ( $RETURNCODE == 0)
                 {
                 to "| /usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver  -d $EXT@$USER"
                 }
         }
5.  When completely switching, you can either replace the .qmail files 
or use one of the following in qmail/control/defaultdelivery

|/var/qmail/bin/preline -f /usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -d $EXT@$USER
|/var/qmail/bin/preline -f /usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -d 
${EXT/-*}@$USER -a $EXT@$USER

--

This should allow a final conversion to vpopmail 5.5 (from 5.4.30) with 
dovecot 2.0.x.. I haven't done that final step yet, but it should now work.

Anyhow, I hope this saves someone a few days of head scratching.

a.