dovecot

dovecot@dovecot.org

May 2026

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41 discussions

mail_inbox_path in manual
by Daniel Convissor (business) 01 May '26

01 May '26

Hi: Recently upgraded Debian to version 13/Trixie, which brings Dovecot up to 2.4 (with its significant configuration file changes). As mentioned on this list, Debian decided to manually put mail_inbox_path in their distribution's config files (and set it to /var/mail/%{user}).[1] This resulted in mayhem for me because that's not where our mail is. I assume this has happened to others as well. I figured out the problem by looking at mail.log after adding mail_debug=yes to my local Dovecot config file. Perhaps Dovecot's manual can be updated to clarify the situation, please? The Mail Location page[2] warns admins to not touch this setting. The upgrade page[3] does not mention needing to look out for Debian's choice. (Granted, this is a Debian problem, but the Dovecot manual is where people turn to figure out what is happening.) Thank you, --Dan [1] https://dovecot.org/mailman3/archives/list/dovecot@dovecot.org/message/Q6HI… [2] https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/core/config/mail_location.html#mail_inbox_path [3] https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.3/installation/upgrade/2.3-to-2.4.html -- T H E A N A L Y S I S A N D S O L U T I O N S C O M P A N Y Designing transportation systems everyone can use https://www.AnalysisAndSolutions.com/

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