How to use dovecot only as POP3 server / prevent it from creating .imap directories?

[Binarus]

On 17.06.2020 17:41, Josef 'Jeff' Sipek wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 09, 2020 at 12:32:18 +0200, Binarus wrote:
> ...
>> ./mail/inbox
>> ./mail/.imap
>> ./mail/.imap/dovecot-uidvalidity
>> ./mail/.imap/dovecot.list.index.log
>> ./mail/.imap/dovecot-uidvalidity.5edce848
>> ./mail/.imap/INBOX
>> ./mail/.imap/INBOX/dovecot.index.log
>> ./mail/.imap/INBOX/dovecot.index
>> ./mail/.imap/INBOX/dovecot.index.log.2
>> ./mail/.imap/INBOX/dovecot.index.cache
>>
>> While there are no .imap subdirectories in other parts of the home
>> directories any more (which was the main goal), there are still at least
>> three unnecessary files plus one unnecessary directory with four
>> unnecessary files left. This is an ugly waste of resources, but it won't
>> keep me from going that way.
>>
>> Obviously, dovecot is not meant to serve only POP3 any more
> 
> The .imap directory isn't really about IMAP.  It is sort of a generic
> directory that just happens to have "imap" in the name.  The index files you
> see are required for various features inside dovecot to work properly.  Many
> of them are related to performance rather than a specific protocol.
> Granted, POP3 is such a simple protocol that most of the features don't
> apply to a POP3-only server.
> 
> If you don't want the index files to live inside the users' home
> directories, take a look at the INDEX and CONTROL keys in the mail_location
> docs:
> 
> https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/mail_location/#format
> 
> While that still creates the files, you can move them off to a location that
> the users do not see.
> 
> Jeff.
> 

A little bit late, but just wanted to thank you for your explanation.

By the way, that solution is playing very well in practice - no reason
to change or improve something.

Thanks again, and best regards,

Binarus