[Dovecot] cannot update mailbox - unable to lock for exclusive access

[Stan Hoeppner]

On 11/26/2012 3:39 PM, 1st WebDesigns wrote:
> Thanks, all your comments are noted.
> 
>> As I said, you can migrate users individually.  You could easily do 10
>> users a day during coffee breaks etc and be done in a month plus.  Do 40
>> a day and you're done in 10 days.  The only time you'll burn is in the
>> learning curve, not the actual mailbox migration which takes no time at
>> all with POP accounts.
> 
> That's interesting, as I (wrongly) assumed switching from mbox to
> maildir was an all or nothing process.  You're saying we can run half
> the mailboxes in mbox format and the other half in maildir format?
> 
> In which case we can get going with this sooner than I thought.

Yes, this can be done.  But if you're using UNIX system user accounts
IIRC you'll have to convert to virtual users before you can migrate one
user at a time.  Virtual user setup is required to change mail_location
on a per user basis.  With system users mail_location is defined once
for all users.  Converting to virtual users first makes the process more
painful.  I've not done such a POP mbox<>maildir migration myself, so
hopefully someone who has will chime in.  If not start a new thread
called "need POP mbox<>maildir migration help" or similar.

And again, I wouldn't try any of this with 1.0.7.  Upgrade to at least
1.2.x first.

>> Always test with a dummy mailbox first to iron out any issues.  Then
>> start migrating the problem users first, the smart phone users who tie
>> up their mailboxes for many minutes during download.
>>
> 
> Thank you - I would probably start with the CEO's mailbox first and then
> go from there >:-D

Start a new thread as I suggested.  State your version, current user
account type (system or virtual), and post your dovecot -n at the end of
the email.  You'll get many more helpful suggestions and insight from
people who've actually done this migration.

-- 
Stan