December 2025 - dovecot

Sieve vnd.dovecot.config extension does not work when mail is delivered to lmtp inet_listener but works when delivered to lmtp unix_listener
by DK 20 Jul '26

20 Jul '26

Hello. I have a strange problem with sieve scripts vnd.dovecot.config extension processing on newest dovecot 2.3 and 2.4. When I deliver mail via lmtp unix_listener sieve script can get sieve_env_* variable with no problem. However when I deliver mail via lmtp inet_listener sieve script can not get the same sieve_env_* variable. I deliver mails from postfix to lmtp inet_listener directly (not via haproxy). The same postfix is used when testing lmtp unix_listener mail delivery which works. Any clues what could be the cause of such problem? DK

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Announcement: wormhole plugin, replication for Dovecot 2.4
by Patrick Cernko 12 Jun '26

12 Jun '26

Hello List, I am proud to announce my project "wormhole". This is an extension for Dovecot 2.4.1. It allows to continue the use of the replication feature of Dovecot that was removed with the 2.4 release. History: I started this project by forking the replication code of Dovecot 2.3.21.1 and porting it to 2.4. The first result was a patch for Dovecot 2.4.1. While working with the code, I realized that it is possible to provide the feature as a plugin / extension. In the first release of the plugin, I tried to integrate it with the existing dsync commands for doveadm. This required an API for access to the dsync commands, which I proposed to the Dovecot developers in https://github.com/dovecot/core/pull/249 . Unfortunately, my pull request was rejected, though I can understand the reasons for that. Without the required API, I had to switch to another approach: I forked the dsync code from doveadm to provide a new set of commands: "repl" and "repl-server". These commands work similar to "sync" and "dsync-server" but use additional functions required by the replication feature. This approach was released as version 0.3 of the plugin. With version 0.4 I renamed the project to wormhole. Before that it was just called dovecot-replication (see https://codeberg.org/errror/dovecot-replication) I thought that the project should have a more unique name. Currently I'm working on designing a test suite for wormhole. Doing unit tests of the components is not sufficient IMHO. The test suite should check the whole replication feature using two running dovecot instances that replicate the users' mailboxes. Having a sophisticated test suite will help in future development and bug tracking. The code can be found on my codeberg site at: https://codeberg.org/errror/wormhole There is also a web page on my personal homepage at: https://people.mpi-klsb.mpg.de/~pcernko/wormhole.shtml The project is still missing documentation. For the moment, configuration is similar to the existing Dovecot 2.3 documentation. Upgrading from 2.3: When using the included patch for Dovecot, the plugin should be 100% compatible with existing Dovecot 2.3 servers. This compatibility should allow uninterrupted upgrades of the service by replacing Dovecot on one server and then the other one. After the upgrade, the plugin can be reconfigured to work without the patch for Dovecot. Upgrading without the patch is also possible. During the upgrade (aka "while one server still runs 2.3") some aspects of the replication will not work or lack performance. Upgrading is not yet tested very well and missing documentation also. I will work on that soon. I hope to get some feedback, pull requests or bug reports via mail or at codeberg (preferred). -- Patrick Cernko <pcernko(a)mpi-klsb.mpg.de> +49 681 9325 5815 Joint Scientific IT and Technical Service Max-Planck-Institute für Informatik & Softwaresysteme

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[Dovecot] batch convert mbox to maildir
by Netlink Tech 18 May '26

18 May '26

Hello, I have used mb2md for an individual user like this: su ~username cd ~ ./mb2md -m This converted /var/spool/mail/username mbox to /home/users/username/Maildir just as I expected. To convert 100s of users the same way would be a chore (su as each user for permissions, etc.). Is there a way to batch process all /var/spool/mail/$USER to /home/users/$USER/Maildir with the correct permissions/file owners for each user?

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Panic in logs
by Kamil Jońca 26 Apr '26

26 Apr '26

Recently I found in my lda logs: 2025-12-30T07:55:14.717927+01:00 alfa dovecot: lda(kjonca): Error: Raw backtrace: #1 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #2 i_syslog_fatal_handler[0x7f99a2351430] -> #3 i_panic[0x7f99a226d453] -> #4 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #5 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #6 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #7 buffer_append[0x7f99a2345270] -> #8 dregex_code_match_groups[0x7f99a233f1a0] -> #9 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #10 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #11 sieve_match_value[0x7f99a117f770] -> #12 sieve_match[0x7f99a117fa30] -> #13 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #14 sieve_interpreter_continue[0x7f99a117e100] -> #15 sieve_multiscript_run[0x7f99a1190330] -> #16 [unw_get_proc_name() failed: -10] -> #17 mail_deliver[0x7f99a27e54a0] -> #18 main[0x55e371c555e0] -> #19 __libc_start_call_main[0x7f99a1e29f00] -> #20 __libc_start_main_alias_2[0x7f99a1e29fa0] -> #21 _start[0x55e371c566a0] And sadly it seems, that mail is missing (it was passed to pipe program to further processing) KJ -- http://wolnelektury.pl/wesprzyj/teraz/ When you go out to buy, don't show your silver.

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mbox to maildir migration, same server?
by kjohnson＠eclypse.org 25 Apr '26

25 Apr '26

What is the recommended procedure to migrate from mbox to maildir on a server already running dovecot? Ideally, this procedure would convert messages in an existing mbox INBOX and in ~/mail mboxes (as defined in my dovecot configuration) to storage in a ~/Maildir. Some of the INBOXs are rather large -- 100's of MB (one of the reasons for migrating). What I have tried has not worked for me. Below, I describe what I tried, how I tested before I tried, what went wrong, and the current setup (pre-migration). What I tried: ============= stop exim4 service dovecot stop Make dovecot listen only locally, not to external connections. /etc/dovecot/local.conf protocol imap { listen = 127.0.0.1:143 ssl_listen = 127.0.0.1:993 } protocol pop3 { listen = 127.0.0.1:110 ssl_listen = 127.0.0.1:995 } Modify dovecot configuration for maildir: Watch capitalization! #in 10-mail.conf: mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir namespace inbox { separator = / } dovecot -n, to confirm results and perform limited syntax checking. service dovecot start for each user, in a bash script: dsync -v -u "$U" mirror "mbox:/home/$U/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/$U" (if the conversion worked for all users, then reconfigure exim to use maildir and restart it; reconfigure dovecot to listen to external interfaces and restart.) How I tested: ============= Before trying this on the real server, I set up a matching (same versions of Debian, Exim, and Dovecot) VM using mbox, with a couple of accounts. One using POP3, one using IMAP. The IMAP account was accessed from Claws and from Outlook. The test accounts had perhaps a dozen messages on the server. I tried the conversion procedure, and everything I tried worked flawlessly. (Yes, next time I will move some real inbox files from the live server). What went wrong: ================ I encountered two types of problems here. The first was several dsync warnings (username changed): dsync(example): Warning: Mailbox changes caused a desync. You may want to run dsync again: Remote lost mailbox GUID 21bfa11a81f11763ac150000d09efc50 (maybe it was just deleted?) As I understand it, this can result in some or all messages being downloaded again by clients. My understanding may be wrong. I also don't understand how the mailbox could have changed -- exim4 was stopped, dovecot is only listening on 127.0.0.1, and I am the only user who uses a local mail client on that system, and this was not my account. The second problem I encountered seems to match Debian Bug report logs - #1011238. In part of the discussion of that report, the reporter mentions adding -1 to the command, as shown: dsync -v -u "$U" mirror -1 "mbox:/home/$U/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/$U" While this seemed to eliminate the dsync panic of #1011238, as far as I can tell, no old messages were actually moved from the old mbox files to the new maildirs. At that point I restored the backup mbox files and undid the changes to dovecot and exim4. Current setup: ============== Debian 11.4 Exim 4.94.2-7 dovecot 1:2.3.13+dfsg1-2 The current setup with Dovecot was a successful migration from IMAP-UW in December 2020. Output from dovecot -n (the list of trusted networks has been removed) # 2.3.13 (89f716dc2): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 0.5.13 (cdd19fe3) # OS: Linux 5.10.0-16-686-pae i686 Debian 11.4 # Hostname: localhost auth_verbose = yes mail_location = mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u mail_privileged_group = mail 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 = } passdb { driver = pam } pop3_uidl_format = %08Xv%08Xu protocols = " imap pop3" ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/dovecot.pem ssl_client_ca_dir = /etc/ssl/certs ssl_dh = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it userdb { driver = passwd } Thank you to anyone who read this far. Ken

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doveadm batch crash
by Jonathan Casiot 13 Apr '26

13 Apr '26

Hi I'm having an issue with doveadm batch - the following command always crashes: doveadm batch : mailbox status all inbox Whereas the following work as expected: doveadm mailbox status all inbox doveadm batch : mailbox list Any assistance gratefully received. Debug output from the crash: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib64/dovecot Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/lib01_acl_plugin.so Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/lib10_mail_crypt_plugin.so Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/lib90_stats_plugin.so Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib10_doveadm_acl_plugin.so Debug: Skipping module doveadm_expire_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib10_doveadm_expire_plugin.so: undefined symbol: expire_set_deinit (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Skipping module doveadm_quota_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib10_doveadm_quota_plugin.so: undefined symbol: quota_user_module (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Skipping module doveadm_fts_lucene_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib20_doveadm_fts_lucene_plugin.so: undefined symbol: lucene_index_iter_deinit (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Skipping module doveadm_fts_plugin, because dlopen() failed: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/lib20_doveadm_fts_plugin.so: undefined symbol: fts_user_get_language_list (this is usually intentional, so just ignore this message) Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/doveadm/libdoveadm_mail_crypt_plugin.so doveadm(jc): Debug: Effective uid=1001, gid=100, home=/home/jc doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: No acl_shared_dict setting - shared mailbox listing is disabled doveadm(jc): Debug: mail_crypt_plugin: mail_crypt_curve setting missing - generating EC keys disabled doveadm(jc): Debug: Namespace inbox: type=private, prefix=, sep=., inbox=yes, hidden=no, list=yes, subscriptions=yes location=mdbox:~/mdbox:ALT=~/Archive/tape/mdbox doveadm(jc): Debug: fs: root=/home/jc/mdbox, index=, indexpvt=, control=, inbox=, alt=/home/jc/Archive/tape/mdbox doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: initializing backend with data: vfile doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: acl username = jc doveadm(jc): Debug: acl: owner = 1 doveadm(jc): Debug: acl vfile: Global ACLs disabled doveadm(jc): Panic: file mail-storage.c: line 875 (mailbox_set_reason): assertion failed: (reason != NULL) doveadm(jc): Error: Raw backtrace: /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0(+0xa0e9e) [0x7fc993023e9e] -> /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0(default_fatal_handler+0x2a) [0x7fc993023f0a] -> /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot.so.0(i_fatal+0) [0x7fc992fb3c97] -> /usr/lib64/dovecot/libdovecot-storage.so.0(+0x49856) [0x7fc993301856] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x348e2) [0x5631dbb5f8e2] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x2e1ad) [0x5631dbb591ad] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x2bd2c) [0x5631dbb56d2c] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x2c92a) [0x5631dbb5792a] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(doveadm_mail_try_run+0x215) [0x5631dbb58285] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(main+0x46a) [0x5631dbb473fa] -> /lib64/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xf5) [0x7fc992bd83d5] -> /usr/bin/doveadm(+0x1c565) [0x5631dbb47565] Aborted (core dumped) And doveconf -n output: # 2.2.36 (1f10bfa63): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 3.10.0-957.1.3.el7.x86_64 x86_64 CentOS Linux release 7.6.1810 (Core) # Hostname: ### redacted ### first_valid_gid = 100 first_valid_uid = 1000 last_valid_gid = 100 last_valid_uid = 1999 listen = * login_greeting = IMAP ready login_log_format_elements = user=<%u> method=%m rip=%r lip=%l mpid=%e session=<%{session}> %k mail_attribute_dict = file:%h/mdbox/dovecot-attributes mail_location = mdbox:~/mdbox:ALT=~/Archive/tape/mdbox mail_plugins = acl stats mail_crypt mailbox_list_index = yes mdbox_rotate_size = 16 M 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 = . } passdb { driver = pam } plugin { acl = vfile mail_crypt_global_private_key = <### redacted ### mail_crypt_global_public_key = <### redacted ### mail_crypt_save_version = 2 stats_memory_limit = 16 M stats_refresh = 30 secs stats_track_cmds = yes } postmaster_address = ### redacted ### protocols = imap service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } } service imap-login { process_limit = 200 process_min_avail = 4 service_count = 1 } service stats { fifo_listener stats-mail { group = users mode = 01224 } } ssl = required ssl_cert = <### redacted ### ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_prefer_server_ciphers = yes ssl_protocols = !SSLv2 !SSLv3 !TLSv1 userdb { driver = passwd } verbose_proctitle = yes protocol imap { imap_idle_notify_interval = 10 mins imap_metadata = yes mail_max_userip_connections = 20 mail_plugins = acl stats mail_crypt imap_acl imap_stats } Regards, -- Jonathan

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[Dovecot] migration from IMAP/POP3 courier server to a remote dovecot server
by nik600 06 Apr '26

06 Apr '26

Dear all i'm planning a transparent migration from a courier server that provides both IMAP and POP3 access to users to a remote dovecot server with both IMAP and POP3 access. I have to migrate about 2500 users for 250 GB of space. I'm using dovecot 2.2.5.4 on debian6 squeeze. To make a transparent migration i have to maintain old IMAP UIDs and POP3 UIDs, so i've read http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration and http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration/Courier and http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Migration/Dsync And decided that probably the best tool to use is Dsync, as the courier-dovecot-migrate.pl<http://www.dovecot.org/tools/courier-dovecot-migrate.pl> script works only locally. I've tested the dsync following instructions reported above but after the migration of one test-account the client re-download messages. If i want to keep both IMAP UIDs and POP3 UIDs i have to sync both imapc and pop3c with two commands? doveadm -o imapc_user=foo -o pop3c_user=foo -o imapc_password=bar -o pop3c_password=bar backup -R -u user@domain imapc: doveadm -o imapc_user=foo -o pop3c_user=foo -o imapc_password=bar -o pop3c_password=bar backup -R -u user@domain pop3c: Or imapc is enough? Do you have any suggestion? Thanks -- /*************/ nik600 http://www.kumbe.it

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shared mailbox error
by Marc 19 Mar '26

19 Mar '26

I am getting this error. This file does not exist. Error: t_readlink(/xxxxxx/dbox-alt-root) failed: readlink() failed: Permission denied

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LDAP AD Quota override not working
by wt.forsaken＠gmail.com 26 Feb '26

26 Feb '26

Hi there, I'm testing the new version of Dovecot 2.4 in Debian 13 before upgrading to my customers and I'm having difficult on trying to override the user's quota. The LDAP base is from Samba4 AD and having been trying the following configuration: auth-ldap.conf.ext: ldap_uris = ldap://localhost ldap_auth_dn = cn=admin,dc=localdomain ldap_auth_dn_password = password ldap_base = ou=users, dc=localdomain passdb ldap { filter = (&(objectClass=person)(sAMAccountName=%{user})) bind = yes fields { userdb_quota_storage_size = %{ldap:telephoneNumber}B } } userdb prefetch { driver = prefetch } userdb ldap { fields { quota_storage_size = %{ldap:telephoneNumber}B } } 90-quota.conf mail_plugins { quota = yes } quota "User quota" { } quota_storage_size = 40M Since there is no quotaBytes in Samba AD, I'm testing to map the telephoneNumber parameters to override the quota, also I'm just testing a 40M to see how it works. Roundcube webmail can see the quota being overriden in its inferior bar, but when I send an email to the user which is above the quota, the journal log inform "failed to store into mailbox 'INBOX': Quota exceeded (mailbox for user is full)". I don't know how to override the quota, since in passdb section I used the "userdb_" prefix but it is not being passed to userdb when I input the "doveadm user ..." command. I don't know if I have been clear in my request, but I'd appreciate any help.

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2.4.2 breaks user iterations for LDAP
by cpfeiffer＠rev-crew.info 20 Feb '26

20 Feb '26

Hello everyone, Due to the fix for CVE-2025-30189, routines like userdb_ldap_preinit() call auth_cache_parse_key_and_fields() unconditionally, with the eventually called auth_cache_parse_key_exclude() erroring if a cache key could not be constructed. It’s also noteworthy that this call happens regardless of whether use_cache is set or not, and as of such failing to construct a cache key would cause an error even if use_cache = no was set for that database. This is however an issue for user iteration with LDAP, as documented here LDAP | Dovecot CE <https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/config/auth/databases/ldap.html#user-ite…> . Such a userdb only has iterate_filter fields that would inherently not be containing any user variables. The call to auth_cache_parse_key_and_fields() uses a combination of ldap_base and userdb_ldap_filter anyway (so whatever is in iterate_filter isn’t considered), and for an iteration userdb as described in the documentation, the latter would be empty. Alas, I ended up getting the rather confusing error * auth: Fatal: auth-cache: dc=rev-crew,dc=info: Cache key must contain at least one variable With dc=rev-crew,dc=info being my ldap_base setting for the iteration userdb. I’m not critically dependent on the user iteration, so I’ve commented the userdb out for now, but this would need fixing. Regards, Christian Pfeiffer Hello everyone, Due to the fix for CVE-2025-30189, routines like userdb_ldap_preinit() call auth_cache_parse_key_and_fields() unconditionally, with the eventually called auth_cache_parse_key_exclude() erroring if a cache key could not be constructed. It's also noteworthy that this call happens regardless of whether use_cache is set or not, and as of such failing to construct a cache key would cause an error even if use_cache = no was set for that database. This is however an issue for user iteration with LDAP, as documented here [1]LDAP | Dovecot CE. Such a userdb only has iterate_filter fields that would inherently not be containing any user variables. The call to auth_cache_parse_key_and_fields() uses a combination of ldap_base and userdb_ldap_filter anyway (so whatever is in iterate_filter isn't considered), and for an iteration userdb as described in the documentation, the latter would be empty. Alas, I ended up getting the rather confusing error o auth: Fatal: auth-cache: dc=rev-crew,dc=info: Cache key must contain at least one variable With dc=rev-crew,dc=info being my ldap_base setting for the iteration userdb. I'm not critically dependent on the user iteration, so I've commented the userdb out for now, but this would need fixing. Regards, Christian Pfeiffer References Visible links 1. https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/config/auth/databases/ldap.html#user-ite…

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