April 2007 - dovecot - dovecot.org

[Dovecot] Mixing MBOX and Maildir?
by Marc Perkel 13 May '07

13 May '07

Is it possible to have some folders be mbox and some be maildir format? Why you might ask? Sometime for diagnostics I have the Exim MTA archive certain messages in MBOX format and then I want to copy them into an imao folder to look at them with Thunderbird. When I used MBOX all I had to do was copy the file into a folder and it worked. So what I'd like to do is have a folder with a special name that is MBOX and the rest be maildir. Ideally have Dovecot be smart so that if the file exists then it is assumed to be MBOX and if the directory exists then it is assumed to be maildir. Has anyone done anything like this?

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[Dovecot] read only maildir subscriptions
by Nagyon Almos 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hello, I have some (possibly very simple) questions about subscriptions: I store my old mails in /home/oldmails/ in one Maildir where I have only read-only permissions (I cannot delete, create or modify any files). Under thunderbird, I can successfully log in and read my new mails, but I cannot subscribe (?) within thunderbird to oldmails (it is grey not black as other folders). What did I do wrong? What other permissions does dovecot need? Here's the relevant part of dovecot.conf: namespace private { separator = / prefix = oldmails/ location = maildir:/home/oldmails/:CONTROL=~/Maildir/control-oldmails:INDEX=~/Maildir/index-oldmails } and when I try to subscribe to it, dovecot says: dovecot: 2007-04-30 17:58:53 Info: IMAP(xxx): Effective uid=7001, gid=1000 dovecot: 2007-04-30 17:58:53 Info: IMAP(xxx): Namespace: type=private, prefix=regi/, sep=/, inbox=no, hidden=no, subscriptions=no dovecot: 2007-04-30 17:58:53 Info: IMAP(xxx): maildir: data=/home/oldmails/:CONTROL=~/Maildir/control-oldmails:INDEX=~/Maildir/index-oldmails dovecot: 2007-04-30 17:58:53 Info: IMAP(xxx): maildir: root=/home/oldmails, index=~/Maildir/index-oldmails, control=~/Maildir/control-oldmails, inbox= Thanks for any help in advance. Regards, A. <br><br>_______________________________________________________________<br> <a href="http://cthandler.adverticum.net/?cturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.klikkbank.hu%2Flako… " target="new">INTEZZE PÉNZÜGYEIT AZ INTERNETEN!</a> Lakossági számlacsomag havi 199 Ft-ért! Bankkártya éves kártyadíj nélkül! <a href="http://cthandler.adverticum.net/?cturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.klikkbank.hu%2Flako… " target="new">www.klikkbank.hu</a>

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[Dovecot] Log data on dovecot-auth socket
by Koen Vermeer 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hi, Is there any way I can monitor or log the data that is being received/sent on the dovecot-auth socket? I'm trying to debug some authentication stuff, and monitoring the conversation would be very useful. Thanks! Koen

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[Dovecot] locking questions
by Stewart Dean 11 May '07

11 May '07

I have Dovecot 1.0 in trial use by the IT staff, and have some locking questions Background, the mail server runs procmail, sendmail and NFS exports the user homedir and mailbox to a) a login shell host and b) a mailing list services host. It runs UWIMAP on the usual ports and dovecot on a arbitrary port number. Because of concern with NFS and file access contention. I have the following dovecot.conf file access parms set: a) mbox_dirty_syncs = no b) mbox_lazy_writes = no 1) I am seeing these errmsgs. Are they anything I should be concerned about, or are they just the inevitable result of lock contention for mailboxes and folders by procmail, imap/dovecot and NFS? > In syslog, I am seeing this: > > Apr 23 18:46:34 mercury mail:err|error dovecot: IMAP(sdean): stat(/var/spool/mail/sdean.lock) failed: No such file or directory > Apr 23 18:46:34 mercury mail:err|error dovecot: IMAP(sdean): file_lock_dotlock() failed with mbox file /var/spool/mail/sdean: No such file or directory > > While in maillog: > > Apr 23 18:46:34 mercury mail:err|error dovecot: IMAP(sdean): stat(/var/spool/mail/sdean.lock) failed: No such file or directory > Apr 23 18:46:34 mercury mail:err|error dovecot: IMAP(sdean): file_lock_dotlock() failed with mbox file /var/spool/mail/sdean: No such file or directory 2) I earlier asked, but don't think I got an answer to this question: > Everybody wants to lock differently > 1) procmail (delivering for sendmail), which seems to want to use > dotlocking, fcntl and lockf locking; for whatever reasons, the compile > time tests seem to disallow flock. > 2) UWIMAP which according to wiki.dovecot.org/Migration/UW uses: > mbox_read_locks = flock > mbox_write_locks = dotlock flock > 3) I want to run dovecot in the same environment as I switch over, for > which the locking strategy is supposed to be (according to > http://wiki.dovecot.org/MboxLocking) > mbox_read_locks = fcntl > mbox_write_locks = dotlock fcntl > > Since that same page in the wiki says. "*It's important that all > software that's reading or writing to mboxes use the same locking > settings.",* I had recompiled procmail so it only usedotlocking and > fcntl (thus removing lockf in addition to the disallowed flock)...but > now I bumped into the Migration/UW page and there looks to be a conflict. > > I want to be able to run dovecot (for testing) and UWIMAP (for all > users/production) at the same time (but never at the same time with > the same mailbox), but UWIMAP is doc'ed to use flock and Dovecot doesn't > It's conceivable that the different locking strategies of UWIMAP and > Dovecot don't matter because they would never be going after the same > mail files (right?) but there is procmail, which has to interact with > both. It appears to not use flock OK, even though the docs say it > should since UWIMAP expects it, and I've disabled lockf as well. But > will there be a conflict with procmail and dovecot's use of fcntl, > which UWIMAP doesn't use? > > Help. 3) I occasionally see "Disconnected for inactivity" message. How long before that happens? Is the interval configurable? Thanks to all. A brother sysadmin was stunned by performance gained in Dovecot. He has to keep postmaster messages for a period and filters them into a separate folder...over a long weekend this folder could get to 1500 messages and 150MB...with UWIMAP he could only delete approx 800 at a time and then had to wait 5-10 minutes for it to process. With dc, he marked off the whole folder and it was gone in seconds. -- ==== Stewart Dean, Unix System Admin, Henderson Computer Resources Center of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York 12504 sdean(a)bard.edu voice: 845-758-7475, fax: 845-758-7035

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[Dovecot] Dovecot refuses connections
by John Rowe 11 May '07

11 May '07

I have recently upgraded to dovecot 1.0.0 on two machines running Scientific Linux 4.3/4.4 x86_64 kernel 2.6.9-22.0.1.EL. The systems come with openssl 0.9.7a and I have installed openssl-0.9.8e. Everything is 64-bit. /usr/local64/sbin/dovecot -n # /usr/local64/etc/dovecot.conf disable_plaintext_auth: no login_dir: /usr/local64/var/run/dovecot/login login_executable: /usr/local64/libexec/dovecot/imap-login first_valid_uid: 100 mail_extra_groups: mail default_mail_env: mbox:%h/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u mail_location: mbox:%h/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u mail_debug: yes mmap_disable: yes lock_method: dotlock mbox_read_locks: lockf mbox_write_locks: lockf auth default: passdb: driver: pam userdb: driver: passwd I have two issues: 1. It won't start from xinetd. I get very little in the logs, just: Apr 7 07:07:41 xyz xinetd[2545]: START: imaps pid=17445 from=144.173.228.126 Apr 7 07:07:41 xyz xinetd[2545]: EXIT: imaps pid=17445 duration=0(sec) where 'xyz' is the host name 2. If I instead I run dovecot as a daemon then both my machines have suffered the problem where dovecot runs for several days and then disallows connections with: Apr 29 04:06:07 xyz dovecot: imap-login: opendir(.) failed when trying to get list of authentication servers: Permission denied Apr 29 04:06:07 xyz last message repeated 2 times Apr 29 04:06:07 xyz dovecot: child 5645 (login) returned error 89 Apr 29 04:06:07 xyz dovecot: child 5646 (login) returned error 89 Apr 29 04:06:07 xyz dovecot: child 5647 (login) returned error 89 Killing and restarting dovecot seems to fix it. Thanks for your help. John

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[Dovecot] dovecot 1.0.0 hang on one server
by Roberto Tagliaferri 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hi, i've upgraded 5 server from dovecot beta7 or old dovecot-stable to 1.0.0 but on one server dovecot crash after few hours without any log Apr 23 18:19:32 Info: POP3(username): Disconnected: Logged out top=0/0, retr=0/0, del=0/0, size=0 Apr 24 09:54:11 Info: Dovecot v1.0.0 starting up The startup is by hand (when i arrived at office!!) This server is a linux running on vmware, with 1.0rc7 is all ok , the other server is ok with 1.0.0 The config file are the same... -- Roberto Tagliaferri Responsabile Progettazione & Produzione TosNet s.r.l. - Internet Service Provider r.tagliaferri(a)tosnet.it www.tosnet.it

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[Dovecot] Dovecot and Outlook - IMAP Timeout error
by Phillip T. George 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hey guys, I'm having a problem with Dovecot and Outlook. I'm testing with Outlook XP (2002), but the problem occurs with Outlook 2003 as well. I'm using Dovecot 1.0.rc28. The specific error generated (for IMAP) is: "A connection to the server could not be established. <servername> is now in offline mode." In the details: "There may be a server or network problems or your timeout interval may be too short. Protocol: IMAP Server: <servername> Port: 143" It is set up with a POP3 account and an IMAP account within Outlook -- using the same physical email account. The IMAP portion is only used for spam / ham submission, while the POP3 is used for downloading the actual email. The account on the server being used is named "me2.pg.east.eacsd.com" I have a single IMAP account set up in Thunderbird, which is using the account name "me.pg.east.eacsd.com". All mail that is received at "me.pg.east.eacsd.com" is forwarded to "me2.pg.east.eacsd.com" to generate some traffic. Here is the snippet of the mail log which involves me2.pg.east.eacsd.com ( | grep me2.pg.east.eacsd.com | grep -i imap): Apr 25 02:40:11 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:40:13 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected in IDLE Apr 25 02:41:10 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected: Logged out Apr 25 02:45:41 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:45:41 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:46:18 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 02:46:18 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 02:50:49 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:50:50 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:51:27 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 02:51:27 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 02:55:58 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:55:58 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 02:56:56 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 02:56:56 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 03:01:27 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 03:01:27 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me2.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38 Apr 25 03:01:58 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected Apr 25 03:01:58 east dovecot: IMAP(me2.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected There's more before that, but I'd figured that would be enough: Apr 24 17:18:05 east dovecot: IMAP(me.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected in IDLE Apr 24 17:19:34 east dovecot: IMAP(me.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected in IDLE Apr 24 17:19:42 east dovecot: IMAP(me.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected in IDLE Apr 24 17:20:27 east dovecot: IMAP(me.pg.east.eacsd.com): Disconnected in IDLE Apr 24 17:20:42 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38, TLS Apr 24 17:43:18 east dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<me.pg.east.eacsd.com>, method=PLAIN, rip=68.14.165.23, lip=64.22.71.38, TLS As you can see from the logs, Thunderbird didn't have a problem, which eliminates the possibility of a bad net connection (I'd assume...but I could be wrong). The problem occurred at 3AM. Some people during the day can get it every hour or so. I was able to get it to occur twice (the first time is not shown in these logs). My questions. . . 1. Is there any way to fix this Outlook problem? I have all of the outlook workarounds enabled (along with some for Netscape): imap_client_workarounds = delay-newmail outlook-idle netscape-eoh pop3_client_workarounds = outlook-no-nuls oe-ns-eoh 2. Should Outlook really be connecting and disconnecting that often? 3. Could the problem be occurring because of POP3 and IMAP being used by the same account, and the quick downloading of email via POP3 is eliminating the email for IMAP, thereby causing inactivity in IMAP? Is there a workaround or a known Outlook settings to fix this? Thanks, Phillip

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[Dovecot] Troubleshooting - another suggestion...
by Charles Marcus 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hi Timo, I'm the one who suggested the '-n' option to capture the actual config settings that the running dovecot process was using (ala postfix), and you implemented it very quickly - so thanks for that! Now, I'd like to suggest an enhancement... Many people still do not provide basic things like dovecot version, and there are secondary config files like dovecot-ldap, whose settings are not included in the dovecot -n output. How difficult would it be to add these to the output so that the output would include the running dovecot version, as well as any extra config settings from any other files that are loaded when dovecot starts? It would sure make it easier, both for us troubleshooting on our own, and when asking for help on the list. Many thanks, and terrific job on 1.0! Now all dovecot lacks is full support for IMAP ACLs/shared folders, and support for single-instance storage, and it will have no real competition... -- Best regards, Charles

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[Dovecot] lucene plug-in
by ??? 11 May '07

11 May '07

Hello, Has anyone tried the lucene plug-in? I am interested to know more about this feature , how to setup / configure it? regards, - Joe

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[Dovecot] corruption?
by Neal Becker 11 May '07

11 May '07

I'm using maildir (and have been for a long time). Today I have a problem: ls -al (maildir): [...] drwx------ 5 nbecker nbecker 4096 Jan 1 2006 .;SECTION= What's this? It seems to be causing my mail client (kmail, using dimap), to hang.

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