October 2025 - dovecot

Re: Using MongoDB as a custom message store via plugin
by Andy Balholm 01 Oct '25

01 Oct '25

I wouldn't be surprised if it would actually be easier to write an IMAP server than to write a Dovecot plugin, especially if you have a good IMAP library to work with. You can do it in the language of your choice, and not need to worry about Dovecot's internals. The server you make can be pretty bare-bones, if you plan to run Dovecot in front of it as an "IMAPC" proxy to add more features. Dovecot lets you turn off a lot of IMAP features in the IMAPC configuration; if Dovecot will be your only client, you don't need to implement the ones that you turn off. (But note that IMAPC works a lot better if you implement the UIDPLUS IMAP extension.) Andy

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[Dovecot] auth: Error: net_connect_unix(anvil-auth-penalty) failed: Permission denied
by mailing＠securitylabs.it 01 Oct '25

01 Oct '25

Hello, just upgraded one of my testing machine from dovecot 1.2.15 to 2.0.7. After some trouble with permissions now all seems working, but when I stop dovecot I have these errors in log: Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: master: Warning: Killed with signal 15 (by pid=20362 uid=0 code=kill) Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: pop3-login: Error: read(anvil) failed: EOF Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: imap-login: Error: read(anvil) failed: EOF Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: imap(mailing(a)securitylabs.it): Server shutting down. bytes=410/59361 Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: imap(mailing(a)securitylabs.it): Server shutting down. bytes=79/26605 Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: imap(mailing(a)securitylabs.it): Server shutting down. bytes=802/55708 Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: imap(mailing(a)securitylabs.it): Server shutting down. bytes=258/1242 Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: auth: Error: read(anvil-auth-penalty) failed: EOF Nov 9 17:08:07 in dovecot: auth: Error: net_connect_unix(anvil-auth-penalty) failed: Permission denied dovecot -n: # 2.0.7: /usr/local/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-686 i686 Debian squeeze/sid auth_cache_negative_ttl = 2 mins auth_cache_size = 1000 M auth_cache_ttl = 2 mins auth_master_user_separator = * auth_username_chars = abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ01234567890.-_@& disable_plaintext_auth = no dotlock_use_excl = yes first_valid_uid = 100 last_valid_uid = 105 lock_method = dotlock log_timestamp = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S " login_greeting = Server ready. mail_fsync = never mail_gid = Debian-exim mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir:INDEX=/var/indexes/%d/%n mail_privileged_group = Debian-exim mail_uid = Debian-exim managesieve_notify_capability = mailto managesieve_sieve_capability = fileinto reject envelope encoded-character vacation subaddress comparator-i;ascii-numeric relational regex imap4flags copy include variables body enotify environment mailbox date namespace { inbox = yes location = prefix = separator = / type = private } namespace { location = maildir:~/Maildir/expunged prefix = EXPUNGED/ separator = / type = private } namespace { location = maildir:~/Maildir/deleted prefix = DELETED/ separator = / type = private } namespace { location = maildir:~/Maildir/deleted/expunged prefix = DELETED/EXPUNGED/ separator = / type = private } passdb { args = /usr/local/etc/dovecot-sql.conf driver = sql } passdb { args = /usr/local/etc/passwd.masterusers driver = passwd-file master = yes pass = yes } plugin { lazy_expunge = EXPUNGED/ DELETED/ DELETED/EXPUNGED/ mail_log_events = delete expunge mail_log_group_events = quota = maildir quota_warning = storage=80%% /usr/local/bin/dovecot-quota-warning.sh 80 quota_warning2 = storage=90%% /usr/local/bin/dovecot-quota-warning.sh 90 sieve = ~/.dovecot.sieve } pop3_no_flag_updates = yes protocols = imap pop3 service auth { unix_listener auth-userdb { group = Debian-exim mode = 0600 user = Debian-exim } } service imap-login { client_limit = 256 process_limit = 128 process_min_avail = 3 service_count = 1 } service imap { drop_priv_before_exec = yes process_limit = 256 vsz_limit = 256 B } service pop3-login { client_limit = 256 process_limit = 128 process_min_avail = 3 service_count = 1 } service pop3 { drop_priv_before_exec = yes process_limit = 256 vsz_limit = 256 B } ssl_cert = </usr/local/etc/dovecot.crt ssl_key = </usr/local/etc/dovecot.key userdb { args = /usr/local/etc/dovecot-sql.conf driver = sql } protocol imap { mail_max_userip_connections = 10 mail_plugins = " notify quota imap_quota mail_log lazy_expunge" } protocol pop3 { mail_max_userip_connections = 3 mail_plugins = " notify quota mail_log" pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv } protocol lda { mail_plugins = quota sieve postmaster_address = postmaster(a)securitylabs.it } My /usr/local/var/run/dovecot directory: 4 drwxr-sr-x 4 root staff 4096 Nov 9 17:08 . 4 drwxrwsrwx 3 root staff 4096 Nov 9 17:05 .. 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 anvil 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 anvil-auth-penalty 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 auth-client 0 srw------- 1 dovecot staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 auth-login 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 auth-master 0 srw------- 1 Debian-exim Debian-exim 0 Nov 9 17:05 auth-userdb 0 srw------- 1 dovecot staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 auth-worker 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 config 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 dict 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 director-admin 0 srw-rw-rw- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 dns-client 0 srw------- 1 root staff 0 Nov 9 17:05 doveadm-server 0 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root staff 35 Nov 9 17:05 dovecot.conf -> /usr/local/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Nov 9 17:05 empty 4 drwxr-x--- 2 root dovenull 4096 Nov 9 17:05 login My emails are delivered as user Debian-exim and users are virtual in a MySQL DB. This system is behind a proxy (so the master user)

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Dovecot 2.3 to 2.4 invalid Maildir settings
by User 01 Oct '25

01 Oct '25

Greetings, I am unable to completely migrate my Dovecot 2.3 config to 2.4.1 as I'm unable to get past the following error: Error: Namespace inbox: maildir: maildir settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to override configuration from userdb: Invalid maildir=${domain}/${user}/: Setting is a named filter, use 'maildir {' I found a similar encounter at https://www.mail-archive.com/dovecot@dovecot.org/msg90843.html that points to https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.0/core/config/mailbox/mail_location.html#per-us… yet I still can't get my config to work. I've attached my doveconf at the end, including the ported 2.3 settings that used to work for me (commented out). I would appreciate any advise. # /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 sql_driver = mysql mysql /run/mysqld/mysqld.sock { user = mail password = mail dbname = mail } passdb sql { query = SELECT username AS user, \ password FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active='1' default_password_scheme = ARGON2I } userdb sql { query = SELECT maildir, \ 600 AS uid, \ 600 AS gid \ FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%{user}' AND active='1' iterate_query = SELECT username AS user FROM mailbox } # previously: # passdb { # driver = sql # args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext # } # userdb { # driver = sql # args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext # } # disable_plaintext_auth = yes auth_username_format = %{user | lower} # previously: "auth_username_format = %Lu" auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_default_domain = mail.com # previously: "auth_default_realm = mail.com" auth_debug = yes auth_debug_passwords = yes mail_privileged_group = mail # previously: "mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir" mail_driver = maildir mail_path = %{home}/Maildir mail_home = /var/vmail/%{user | domain}/%{user | username} # previously: "mail_home = /var/vmail/%d/%n/" service lmtp { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { mode = 0600 user = postfix group = postfix } } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { mode = 0660 user = postfix group = postfix } } service stats { unix_listener stats-reader { user = nginx group = nginx mode = 0660 } unix_listener stats-writer { user = nginx group = nginx mode = 0660 } } ssl = required ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.2 ssl_server_prefer_ciphers = server # previously: "ssl_prefer_server_ciphers = yes" ssl_server { dh_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/dh.pem cert_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/tls.pem key_file = /etc/ssl/dovecot/tls.key } # previously: # ssl_dh = </etc/ssl/dovecot/dh.pem # ssl_cert = </etc/ssl/dovecot/tls.pem # ssl_key = </etc/ssl/dovecot/tls.key namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Archive { auto = subscribe special_use = \Archive } mailbox Drafts { auto = subscribe special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { auto = subscribe special_use = \Junk } mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe special_use = \Trash } mailbox Sent { auto = subscribe special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } } protocols = imap lmtp # previously: /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext driver = mysql connect = host=localhost dbname=mail user=mail password=mail default_pass_scheme = ARGON2I password_query = SELECT username AS user,password FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active='1' user_query = SELECT maildir, 600 AS uid, 600 AS gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%u' AND active='1' iterate_query = SELECT username AS user FROM mailbox

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Repository origin
by Christian Celler 01 Oct '25

01 Oct '25

Hi there, maybe this has been discussed on the list before, but a quick search found nothing on this topic. It would be really nice to have an "Origin" (and maybe a Label?) in the InRelease-file for the apt-repositories. Would it be possible to add this to the repositories on repo.dovecot.org, for easier, more comprehensive pinning and stuff? Best regards Christian Celler

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2.3 to 2.4 /proc/self/io) failed: Permission denied
by Don Bowman 01 Oct '25

01 Oct '25

I have a dovecot system running in my kubernetes cluster that i use to gateway some emails to imap that are in turn used by systems that poll for email. No people are involved. Its been running for sometime on 2.3, i've now updated the base container to 2.4 and i have two problems, perhaps related, perhaps not. I'm assuming its related to my config changes for 2.4, but I'm kind of at my wits end. The first issue: Sep 06 15:05:31 imap(support)<443><YIobSSM+MMoKIAIr>: Debug: open(/proc/self/io) failed: Permission denied (euid=1001(support) egid=1001(support) missing +r perm: /proc/self/io) I am seeing errors like this. I can't figure why. I tried "doveadm force-resync -u support /home/support/Maildir/" and it returns no errors. The 2nd error, again, perhaps related, the user doing the poll for new email doesn't see it (despite I see the email delivered to the 'new' dir, it doesn't get picked up and moved to 'cur'). Below is my config file. In /home/support/Maildir i have the new, cur, tmp etc. There's no mention of 'INBOX', which i think my previous had (mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir:INBOX=/var/mail/%u/Maildir was previous) Any advice? I'm not sure where to go from here. dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_allow_cleartext = yes #disable_plaintext_auth = no mail_privileged_group = mail #mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir:INBOX=/var/mail/%u/Maildir mail_driver = maildir mail_path = /var/mail/%{user | username}/Maildir mail_inbox_path = /var/mail/%{user | username}/Maildir userdb passwd { fields { home = /home/{%user | username} mail_driver = maildir mail_path = /var/mail/{%user | username}/Maildir mail_inbox_path = /var/mail/%{user | username}/Maildir } } passdb pam { service_name = dovecot } protocols = " imap" namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe # autocreate and autosubscribe the Trash mailbox special_use = \Trash } mailbox Sent { auto = subscribe # autocreate and autosubscribe the Sent mailbox special_use = \Sent } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { port = 993 } } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } ssl=yes ssl_server_cert_file = /run/ca/tls.crt ssl_server_key_file = /run/ca/tls.key log_path = /tmp/dc.log mail_debug = yes ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.2 log_debug = category=email # verbose_ssl=yes #auth_verbose=yes #auth_debug=yes I have a dovecot system running in my kubernetes cluster that i use to gateway some emails to imap that are in turn used by systems that poll for email. No people are involved. Its been running for sometime on 2.3, i've now updated the base container to 2.4 and i have two problems, perhaps related, perhaps not. I'm assuming its related to my config changes for 2.4, but I'm kind of at my wits end. The first issue: Sep 06 15:05:31 imap(support)<443><YIobSSM+MMoKIAIr>: Debug: open(/proc/self/io) failed: Permission denied (euid=1001(support) egid=1001(support) missing +r perm: /proc/self/io) I am seeing errors like this. I can't figure why. I tried "doveadm force-resync -u support /home/support/Maildir/" and it returns no errors. The 2nd error, again, perhaps related, the user doing the poll for new email doesn't see it (despite I see the email delivered to the 'new' dir, it doesn't get picked up and moved to 'cur'). Below is my config file. In /home/support/Maildir i have the new, cur, tmp etc. There's no mention of 'INBOX', which i think my previous had (mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir:INBOX=/var/mail/%u/Maildir was previous) Any advice? I'm not sure where to go from here. dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.1 auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_allow_cleartext = yes #disable_plaintext_auth = no mail_privileged_group = mail #mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir:INBOX=/var/mail/%u/Maildir mail_driver = maildir mail_path = /var/mail/%{user | username}/Maildir mail_inbox_path = /var/mail/%{user | username}/Maildir userdb passwd { fields { home = /home/{%user | username} mail_driver = maildir mail_path = /var/mail/{%user | username}/Maildir mail_inbox_path = /var/mail/%{user | username}/Maildir } } passdb pam { service_name = dovecot } protocols = " imap" namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe # autocreate and autosubscribe the Trash mailbox special_use = \Trash } mailbox Sent { auto = subscribe # autocreate and autosubscribe the Sent mailbox special_use = \Sent } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { port = 993 } } service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } ssl=yes ssl_server_cert_file = /run/ca/tls.crt ssl_server_key_file = /run/ca/tls.key log_path = /tmp/dc.log mail_debug = yes ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.2 log_debug = category=email # verbose_ssl=yes #auth_verbose=yes #auth_debug=yes

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Public namespace - configuration help (new to Dovecot) - version 2.3.x
by daniel.botting＠codethink.co.uk 01 Oct '25

01 Oct '25

Hi all, I'm configuring a public namespace for an existing Dovecot install, I have the public namespace configured and working in a basic manner (it can be subscribed to in an MUA and mail can be moved into it for a specified user named in the dovecot-acl file). I've followed the official docs: - https://doc.dovecot.org/2.3/configuration_manual/shared_mailboxes/public_sh… When I configure the MUA (Thunderbird) I can see the public namespace and a subfolder that I've manually created underneath (with new/cur/tmp folders, parent public folders also has a new tmp cur directories, mail cannot be moved into public top level folder), but it is displayed as below when subscribed to: public^subfolder I've resolved this by changing the separator to a / , however as per my doveconf -n below I then received a separator conflict, which I resolved by changing the separator for the default namespace to also be a / . As the default namespace is already using period ( . ) on the production servers, I'd like to continue using this separator and not / separator. The existing install of a couple of hundred mailboxes and I'm concerned I'll break the mailboxes /any existing sieve filters. I would like the public folder to display with an empty prefix as below, but I understand you cannot have two 'prefix =' (empty prefixes) : subfolder doveconf -n output below: # 2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 0.5.21.1 (49005e73) # OS: Linux 5.10.0-35-cloud-amd64 x86_64 Debian 11.11 # Hostname: imap-server.hostname.co.uk auth_verbose = yes default_vsz_limit = 0 doveadm_password = # hidden, use -P to show it first_valid_gid = 8 first_valid_uid = 8 last_valid_gid = 8 last_valid_uid = 8 lda_mailbox_autocreate = yes lda_mailbox_autosubscribe = yes mail_gid = 8 mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir mail_plugins = " notify replication acl" mail_uid = 8 managesieve_notify_capability = mailto managesieve_sieve_capability = fileinto reject envelope encoded-character vacation subaddress comparator-i;ascii-numeric relational regex imap4flags copy include variables body enotify environment mailbox date index ihave duplicate mime foreverypart extracttext editheader imapflags namespace { list = no location = maildir:/srv/vmail/public:INDEXPVT=~/Maildir/public prefix = Public/ separator = / subscriptions = no type = public } namespace inbox { inbox = yes location = mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } mailbox Trash { special_use = \Trash } prefix = separator = / <--- I'd like this to be a . instead } namespace subscriptions { hidden = yes list = no location = prefix = subscriptions/ <--- had to put something here because inbox namespace was empty subscriptions = yes } passdb { args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap.conf.ext driver = ldap } plugin { acl = vfile mail_replica = tcps:other-replica.domain.co.uk:port number sieve = ~/.dovecot.sieve sieve_before = /etc/dovecot/common.sieve sieve_dir = ~/sieve sieve_extensions = +editheader +imapflags } postmaster_address = postmaster(a)domain.co.uk protocols = " imap sieve pop3" replication_dsync_parameters = -d -N -l 15 -U -T 10 replication_max_conns = 24 service aggregator { fifo_listener replication-notify-fifo { user = mail } unix_listener replication-notify { user = mail } } service auth { unix_listener /var/run/dovecot-exim-bridge { mode = 0660 user = Debian-exim } } service doveadm { inet_listener { port = <replica port number> ssl = yes } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { port = 993 ssl = yes } process_limit = 512 process_min_avail = 4 service_count = 1 } service imap { process_limit = 1024 } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = <port number> } process_min_avail = 1 service_count = 8 vsz_limit = 256 M } service managesieve { process_limit = 1024 } service replicator { process_min_avail = 1 unix_listener replicator-doveadm { mode = 0666 } } ssl = required ssl_cert = <path/to/fullchain.pem ssl_cipher_list = ALL:!LOW:!SSLv2:!EXP:!aNULL ssl_client_ca_dir = /etc/ssl/certs ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it userdb { args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap.conf.ext driver = ldap override_fields = home=/var/mail/%u uid=mail gid=mail } protocol lda { mail_plugins = " notify replication acl sieve" } protocol imap { mail_max_userip_connections = 32 mail_plugins = " notify replication acl acl" } protocol sieve { mail_max_userip_connections = 10 managesieve_logout_format = bytes=%i/%o managesieve_max_line_length = 64 k } Also the public folder is not displayed in Roundcube webmail in folder sections to be subscribed to. doveadm mailbox list -u <username> I appreciate that replication does not work with public mailboxes, I'll have to look at that further. Many thanks Dan

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