[Dovecot] Shutting down my Dovecot server?

[Bjørn T Johansen]

On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 19:34:57 -0500
Steve Litt <slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:

> On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:52:37 +0100, Bjørn T Johansen said:
> > On 28.11.2012 18:10, Steve Litt wrote:
> > > On Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:12:15 +0100, Bjørn T Johansen said:
> > >> I am planning to shut down my own Dovecot server and start using
> > >> the other Dovecot server I am administering together with a
> > >> friend..
> > >>
> > >> And I was thinking that I don't want to copy the emails I have on
> > >> my server so I want to start from scratch on the other server..
> > >> But I would like to be able to look at the old emails if I need
> > >> to, so was wondering if there is a way to do this without using an
> > >> imap server? Can I convert my mails stored in the maildir format
> > >> to mbox or is there a better way to solve my problem?
> > >
> > > I'm not sure why you want to convert to mbox, especially when there 
> > > are
> > > multiple mbox versions.
> > >
> > > I'm also not sure why you don't want to copy emails. How else would
> > > they appear on the new server. I suppose you could use rsync to copy
> > > the data itself.
> > >
> > > You use Claws-Mail. If I were in your shoes, I'd bring up the empty
> > > Dovecot server and make a new Claws-Mail account for that empty 
> > > server.
> > > Then in Claws-Mail I'd use the copy feature to copy whole folder 
> > > trees
> > > to the new server. Once that's done, I'd reconfigure your original
> > > Dovecot so it can serve only on its local machine, and bang, you
> > > have your new server, with old emails you can look at.
> > >
> > > This is similar to the procedure I used to move my Kmail folders 
> > > (over
> > > 100K messages) to Dovecot.
> > >
> > > http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/201202/201202.htm
> > >
> > > HTH,
> > >
> > > SteveT
> > 
> > Well, I could do that... But you see, there is not much of the emails
> > I have at the moment that I really need, I might need one now and
> > then... So that is why I don't want to copy almost 10GB of email to
> > the new server...
> > 
> > But I guess that might be the most practical solution perhaps... 
> > Doesn't seem to be a better solution....
> > 
> > 
> > BTJ
> 
> 
> 
> Hi Bjørn,
> 
> Here's the thought process that led me to the suggestion. All email
> clients suck. Right now Claws-Mail sucks the least, but that could
> change in a heartbeat. In my experience, a Dovecot server is a much
> more reliable place to *keep* email than is any client, because you can
> access it from *any* IMAP aware email client. A localhost-only Dovecot
> isn't any harder to set up than an email client, but in my experience
> it's a much better steward of your email.
> 
> Imagine if, two years ago, you had kept such emails in Kmail, and then
> upgraded your Linux and been forced into Kmail2. It would have been a
> disaster.
> 
> The other thing is, I'm not really sure what your goal is. It sounds
> like you want your emails on yours and your friends IMAP server, and
> then a copy locally. Or perhaps you wanted your old email only locally.
> Either of those speaks to a local Dovecot server.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> SteveT
> 
> Steve Litt                *  http://www.troubleshooters.com/
>                           *  http://twitter.com/stevelitt
> Troubleshooting Training  *  Human Performance
> 
> 

I only want my old mails locally but I think I have to consider a local Dovecot installation; the more I think about it the more that seems to be the best solution... :)

BTJ

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