February 2009 - dovecot

[Dovecot] Shared subscription, acl-list and uidvalidity(s)
by Thomas Hummel 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hello, I'm running dovecot-1.1.8/Maildir/ACL plugin. I sucessfully set up a Maildir shared between users of the unix group 'doveshared' via a public namespace, unix permissions and ACL files. The location of my public namespace is /path/to/public. I tried 2 sub-setups : First setup ---------- drwxrws--- 4 root doveshared 4096 Jan 30 13:39 public -rw-r----- 1 root doveshared 18 Jan 30 13:38 public/subscriptions I first connect (in Thunderbird) to dovecot with user 'hummel', then with user 'doveimap'. The following files are created in /path/to/public/ : -rw------- 1 doveimap doveshared 40 Jan 30 14:03 dovecot-acl-list -rw------- 1 hummel doveshared 8 Jan 30 14:03 dovecot-uidvalidity -rw------- 1 hummel doveshared 0 Jan 30 14:02 dovecot-uidvalidity.4982fa7a I've got my own idea about what they're used for, but can you explain what they are supposed to be ? I guess the uidvalidity files are UIDVALIDITY, not for the mailboxes the namespace holds (since my understanding is that the uidvalidities of mailboxes are stored in the first line of dovecot-uidlist files), but for the namespace itself (in case it is destroyed and then recreated for instance). Am I right ? Why 2 files ? Second setup ------------- I follow the 'Shared subscriptions' section of the wiki : drw-r-s--- 4 root doveshared 4096 Jan 30 14:19 public -rw-r----- 1 root doveshared 18 Jan 30 13:38 public/subscriptions As expected, dovecot (and it shows in the logs), has not sufficient permissions to create the files above (dovecot-acl-list, dovecot-uidvalidity, dovecot-uidvalidity.4982fa7a). What are the consequences ? Thanks. -- Thomas Hummel | Institut Pasteur <hummel(a)pasteur.fr> | Pôle informatique - systèmes et réseau

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[Dovecot] help: "dovecot: pipe() failed: Too many open files"
by Jake Grimmett 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Dear All, I'm having an intermittent problem, with dovecot slowing to a crawl. Restarting dovecot fixes the problem. Looking at the maillog, I see loads of these errors.... dovecot: pipe() failed: Too many open files dovecot: Temporary failure in creating login processes, slowing down for now dovecot: Created login processes successfully, unstalling looking at the processes, I can see ~200 imap-login's and about ~700 imap's there are 1000 email accounts on the server - half of which are in regular use. The server is Dell PE1950 running dovecot (1.0.7-2.el5) as supplied with Centos 5.2 (~Redhat AS 5.2) in 64 bit mode. I've upgraded the server from 4 to 8GB of RAM, and from a dual core 1.5Ghz xeon, to a quad core 1.5GHz xeon, and this does not seem to help. The following settings were increased by me to try and stop this problem - but did not have an obvious effect: login_process_size = 128 login_process_per_connection = yes login_max_processes_count = 512 Other parameters were left commented out: #max_mail_processes = 1024 #auth_process_size = 256 If anyone has any ideas about where I might be going wrong, please let me know..! many thanks Jake -- Dr Jake Grimmett Head Of Scientific Computing MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Hills Road, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK. Phone 01223 402219 Mobile 0776 9886539

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Re: [Dovecot] ¿DC won't start? "leaked file fd 5:"
by mathemat＠gmx.net 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hi Timo, >> mail.info dovecot: Dovecot v1.0.15 starting up >> mail.err dovecot: auth(default): Panic: Leaked file fd 5: dev 0.10 >> inode 3 > This happens only when Dovecot has been configured with --enable-devel- > checks (or was it --with-debug in v1.0? I'm not sure anymore). The > easiest way to avoid the problem is to not do that. Well, I read that on the net. But the goal was to get it going *without* recompiling... please! :) > The problem is probably related to running in a special environment > which uses some extra fds for some things (possibly a bug or maybe a > feature, who knows) Maybe. But as i got it from an official repo <http://www.dovecot.org/releases/1.0/dovecot-1.0.15.tar.gz>, the thing obviously works for some folks... i'm afraid, they just configured DC somewhat sensefullier (while not documenting this anywhere). Ideas from the profs (you)? -- Psssst! Schon vom neuen GMX MultiMessenger gehört? Der kann`s mit allen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger01

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[Dovecot] NFS - inotify vs kqueue
by Jack Stewart 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hi, I've seen some chatter on NFS boards about kqueue being more reliable than inotify when used in NFSv3 and NFSv2. The chatter is a bit old so I don't know if it is true anymore. Anyone have pro/con experience with dovecot on the inotify/kqueue question when using NFS storage? I realize that kqueue is probably a bit slower and causes some delay with IDLE. Also, it may not really make any difference which is why I ask the question. ---Jack

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[Dovecot] Hi all,
by Jehan Pagès 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hi all, as I told earlier, I am installing an email server with postfix/dovecot/dspam (for now that's all, though some programs may come later). For now, what works good enough is that I receive mails and spams are tagged. Dovecot version 1.1.7-r1 compiled from the gentoo depository with debug. The path of a mail is 1/ to be passed to dspam by postfix as a virtual transport with this in master.cf: dspam unix - n n - - pipe flags=DRhu user=vmail argv=/usr/bin/dspam --client --deliver=innocent,spam --user ${recipient} and this in main.cf: virtual_transport = dspam 2/ Then in dspam.conf, I have: TrustedDeliveryAgent "/usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -d %u" UntrustedDeliveryAgent "/usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -d %u" QuarantineAgent "/usr/libexec/dovecot/deliver -d %u -m Junk" Now dspam is tagging a lot of my spams, with [SPAM] on the subject and in the header stuffs like this: X-DSPAM-Result: Spam X-DSPAM-Processed: Thu Feb 5 23:49:02 2009 X-DSPAM-Confidence: 0.5232 X-DSPAM-Probability: 0.9869 X-DSPAM-Signature: 498b6cde61901804284693 X-DSPAM-Factors: 27, Subject*watch, 0.99000, a+loved, 0.99000, Subject*for+all, 0.99000, ... ... But I wanted spam to go in my Junk folder (using maildir, this is the directory .maildir/.Junk for my configuration. Hence the above configuration of QuarantineAgent. But it doesn't work as my emails are still deliverd to INBOX. How could I check that dovecot deliver is taking into account the option "-m Junk"? Or maybe I don't use it well? (I tried also "-m .Junk" as it it the name of the directory but it is the same) Note also that I use maildir format, so maybe this option works only with mailbox? The doc says: -m <mailbox>: Destination mailbox (default is INBOX). In my dovecot.conf, I have: protocol lda { hostname = mydomain.tld log_path = /home/vmail/dovecot-deliver.log info_log_path = /home/vmail/dovecot-deliver.log auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master } And when a deliver occures, that's all I have in dovecot-deliver.log: deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: auth input: recipient(a)mydomain.tld deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: auth input: home=/home/vmail/mydomain.tld/recipient/ deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: auth input: uid=1004 deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: auth input: gid=1004 deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: maildir: data=/home/vmail/mydomain.tld/recipient/.maildir deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: maildir++: root=/home/vmail/mydomain.tld/recipient/.maildir, index=, control=, inbox= =/home/vmail/mydomain.tld/recipient/.maildir deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Warning: Growing pool 'Cache fields' with: 2048 deliver(recipient(a)mydomain.tld): Feb 06 00:59:47 Info: msgid=<000d01c987ed$879c82f0$6400a8c0@biancauj3>: saved mail to INBOX Is there a way to check the options set on parameters in the logs, so that I check that dspam runs indeed QuarantineAgent? Or would you have other solution/hints? Someone on the dspam ml told me that maildrop or sieve are more flexible. So I explain here that my "reason" was simply that I thought it would be better not to install another software/component to remain simple. Moreover with the "-m" option, dovecot-deliver seemed to do just what I needed (I don't need much more complicated). But maybe I am wrong or it is really better not to use dovecot-deliver. If so, just tell me. Thanks. Jehan

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[Dovecot] Tracing a server problem
by Luigi Rosa 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I have a Linux CentOS server, 4 Gb RAM, with 50 IMAP users. The server is connected to LAN via a firewall appliance, no filtering applied. Many users with different clients complain a lot of "server disconnected" errors. On the server side Doveco does not report any kind of error. I just ab an unusual rate of "IMAP(xxxxxx@xxxx): Disconnected: Logged out" entries. Given that I am NOT sure about the ethernet an firewall performance, how can I trace this problem? Dovecot is 1.1.10, configured with --with-mysql --with-ssl=openssl - --disable-ipv6 --sysconfdir=/etc --localstatedir=/var Userbase is mysql only. Ciao, luigi - -- / +--[Luigi Rosa]-- \ Too much blood in my alcohol system. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAkmIG1MACgkQ3kWu7Tfl6ZQaawCeJbF4hplK06BcSkNnjqg7Lq60 5wsAoJGLKo0+GUiLLPKbyXD0bAtxderl =LTpZ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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[Dovecot] Expire plugin does not work
by Nicolas Letellier 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hi. I test expire plugin for my dovecot 1.1.8. But, it seems to not work. I have 3 mailboxes on my machine. I want my messages in Junk and Trash expire after 1 day. I removed all messages in them before installing expire plugin. See my dovecot.conf: expire: Trash 1 Junk 1 expire_dict: proxy::expire My dabatases in /var/lib/dovecot are used. When I launch /usr/local/sbin/dovecot --exec-mail ext /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/expire-tool --test, it says: Info: user3(a)domain.tld/Trash: stop, expire time in future: Wed Feb 4 21:00:50 2009 Why this message? I have 3 mailboxes, and the message appears only with this mailbox. The 2 others mailbox have mails into Trash and Junk folders. And the mail are older than 2 days. An ls -lcs say it. When I launch /usr/local/sbin/dovecot --exec-mail ext /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/expire-tool, no messages appears. Nothing in my dovecot logs. Nothing (and I set mail_debug). No messages are deleted. In a mailbox1, I have this into Junk/cur directory: 4 -rw------- 1 dovecot dovecot 3822 Feb 2 13:39 1233569469.M275631P48216.***.***.net,S=3822,W=3945:2,S 4 -rw------- 1 dovecot dovecot 3004 Feb 2 15:43 1233585799.M730005P46882.***.***.net,W=3078,S=3004:2,S 4 -rw------- 1 dovecot dovecot 3056 Feb 2 17:49 1233587786.M676156P51401.***.***.net,S=3056,W=3132:2,S 4 -rw------- 1 dovecot dovecot 3732 Feb 2 17:49 1233592892.M701994P52459.***.***.net,S=3732,W=3823:2,S We are Feb 4, and these message are always here. No informations with mail_debug, or with --test parameter.These messages were arrived Feb 2, and they might have this date in dovecot.index.cache... How expire plugin is working? I don't understand it... -- -Nicolas.

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[Dovecot] ¿DC won't start? "leaked file fd 5:"
by mathemat＠gmx.net 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hi Gents, (apologizes, new here...) I didn't find any hint on G**gle nor in the Dovecot archieve (maybe due to the lack of a search function :), so: I installed Doovecot, but can't get it going. The logfile states: > mail.info dovecot: Dovecot v1.0.15 starting up > mail.err dovecot: auth(default): Panic: Leaked file fd 5: dev 0.10 inode 3 > mail.err dovecot: Auth process died too early - shutting down I tried many obscure things to recover, but had no luck so far. As long i am just guessing around (auth? dev 0.10?? maybe SSL config?), i have no clue what happens here :(. To make things more interesting: the installation lives on an embedded device (xscale, aka arm w/4MB RAM), where are no extended debug features available (like ltrace, ldd,...), and no newer packages (if exist) available. Tried so far: * uninstall (ipkg remove) * rm'd all files listed in the package description + /var/run/dc/* * reinstall (ipkg install) * changed the config file (in many ways... but what??) The init-script does mainly "/opt/sbin/dovecot", so i tried that command on the CLI(bash) to be sure no script mangles fd's around. "echo $?" gives "0" then, but no DC process is running- log messages as above. I have no clue what to do abt that- where's the point?? Can this hopefully be done whithout installing the complete gcc toolchain and compiling a newer version from source, but by just adapting the config? 8-| Any helpful hints appreciated!, acend -- -- Psssst! Schon vom neuen GMX MultiMessenger gehört? Der kann`s mit allen: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/multimessenger01

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Re: [Dovecot] The 'dbox' Format
by Alexander Beisig 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Timo Sirainen wrote: > On Thu, 2009-02-05 at 22:42 +0100, Alexander Beisig wrote: > > I'd like to give the dbox format a try, but I could not find any > > information on how to enable it. There's information on how to set > > mail_location for the Maildir and mbox formats in the wiki and also in > > the commented configuration file, but how to set it for dbox is > > strangely missing. I took a guess with 'mail_location = dbox:~/dbox', > > but that didn't work, so it's probably not the right way. > > That's correct. > > > Also, the version of Dovecot that Debian installed was 1.0.15, which > > is kinda old. Should there any serious reasons why I should manually > > install a newer version if I'm going to use dbox? > > v1.0's dbox is completely different from what v1.1 has. It's also not > compiled in by default in v1.0. So don't even try using it. Ok thanks, so I downloaded the recent 1.1.11 release. But I still don't know how to enable the dbox format. I think dovecot-example.conf should explain how to enable it, unless you really don't want people to use this format. ____________________________________________________________________ Psssst! Schon vom neuen WEB.DE MultiMessenger gehört? Der kann`s mit allen: http://www.produkte.web.de/messenger/?did=3123

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[Dovecot] Dovecot performance on GFS clustered filesystem
by Allen Belletti 06 Feb '09

06 Feb '09

Hello All, We are using Dovecot 1.1.3 to serve IMAP on a pair of clustered Postfix servers which share a fiber array via the GFS clustered filesystem. This all works very well for the most part, with the exception that certain operations are so inefficient on GFS that they generate significant I/O load and hurt performance. We are using the Maildir format on disk. We're also using Dovecot's deliver from Postfix to handle local delivery. As best I can determine, the worst problems occur when certain users with very large Inboxes (~10k messages) receive new mail and their client looks up information about that message. GFS doesn't seem to efficiently handle the large directories that contain folders like this. As a result, lots of I/O ops are generated and performance suffers for everyone. I am beginning to wonder if it might be more efficient to revert to the old mbox format, with one file per folder (plus whatever indices are creates.) It seems that this ought to work better with GFS which is geared toward smaller numbers of larger files. Is anyone on the list currently doing that? Alternately, any thoughts regarding tuning or other options would be appreciated. Thanks, Allen -- Allen Belletti allen(a)isye.gatech.edu 404-894-6221 Phone Industrial and Systems Engineering 404-385-2988 Fax Georgia Institute of Technology

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