[Dovecot] dovecot -n FATAL

[Phil]

Hi List,

Im new to postfix-dovecot and im mystified by the following results in 
ubuntu 10.04lts

:~$ dovecot -n
# 1.2.9: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Error: ssl_key_file: Can't use /etc/ssl/private/ssl-mail.key: Permission 
denied
Fatal: Invalid configuration in /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

~$ sudo ls -dl /etc/ssl/private/ssl-mail.key
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 38 2013-11-27 08:35 /etc/ssl/private/ssl-mail.key 
-> /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key

Why is dovecot happily delivering mail to local accounts ( thats all i 
use atm) without being able to access the ssl key, and how can i fix 
this problem so i can run dovecot -n successfully. i have tried 'chown 
dovecot' etc but there was no change in dovecot -n output. Any and all 
help is appreciated.

Phil