- dovecot - dovecot.org

Rebuilding missing index/paths
by Alain Perry 13 Feb '26

13 Feb '26

Hello, First of all, I'm sorry if this isn't the best place to ask for that kind of help, in which case I'd appreciate a pointer to any adequate asynchronous channel. ------------ Some context (skip to next horizontal line if you don't care): I'm happily self-hosting a few services at home. Some months ago I decided I needed to backup my emails to my NAS, in a way that would allow me to read or search them from a web browser as easily as I did with my "cloud" mailboxes. Since I didn't find a modern yet simple webmail that could directly read a Maildir storage, I finally bit the bullet and ran a dovecot container to copy my emails to (using imapsync). Since I opted for an IMAP server, I thought I didn't need to worry too much about the storage format and used the sdbox that (I believe) was the default. Backing up worked and searching worked and I was a happy person. I used my local webmail a couple of times to search for an old email, found it, thought this was a job well done that I wouldn't have to worry too much about anymore. Then, it stopped working. I honestly don't remember what I did around that time that might have broken things or caused a data loss, but IMAP clients couldn't access my emails anymore. Since I had other more urgent matters to address, I let that problem rot. Now that I have a bit more time, I decided to try again. ------------ My problem is that, while it is clear that some data is missing, I have no clue what that data is and how (if ?) I can rebuild it. The folder structure is there in /src/vmail/username/Mail/mailboxes. I do see index(.log) and dbox-Mails/u.* in the folders, so it does look like it conforms to the doc in this regard. However, the paths returned for the mailboxes by "doveadm mailbox path" all use guid's, and do not exist on the filesystem. I don't quite understand how it got to this point, nor what I should have lying around at those paths but I wonder if it is at all possible to rebuild them so I might regain access to my archives. Is there something I can do to recover my emails ? Thanks for reaching this point, and thank you for any help and/or pointers you might be able to provide. Regards,

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fts-flatcurve change index location
by grabsoon＠gmail.com 12 Feb '26

12 Feb '26

hi is there any way to change location ONLY FOR flatcurve indexes all I want is to write fts-flatcurve directories outside ~/Maildir path I do not want to change location of: dovecot.list.index.log dovecot.mailbox.log dovecot-uidvalidity Only for flatcurve indexes. when i set mail_index_path = ~/Indexes all indexes are saved to this new location, not just flatcurve i'm afraid that changing mail_index_path value on production environment is very riski Thanks

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Re: 2.4: fts flatcurve remove?
by Michael Slusarz 11 Feb '26

11 Feb '26

> On 02/10/2026 3:07 PM MST Bjoern Franke via dovecot <dovecot(a)dovecot.org> wrote: > > in the pre release docs > https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/man/doveadm-fts.1.html#fts-flatcurve-remo… > > doveadm fts flatcurve remove > > was mentioned, but in https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/ it's gone. ? https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/core/man/doveadm-fts.1.html#fts-flatcurve-rem…

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2.4: fts flatcurve remove?
by Bjoern Franke 11 Feb '26

11 Feb '26

Hi, in the pre release docs https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/man/doveadm-fts.1.html#fts-flatcurve-remo… doveadm fts flatcurve remove was mentioned, but in https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.2/ it's gone. So, how to remove the flatcurve data again? Simply a find ...--delete? Regards Bjoern

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doveadm quota get issue in lcx container
by Kim Haverblad 09 Feb '26

09 Feb '26

Hi, I'm having some issues getting the quota plugin to work properly. Based on the error message, it looks like the plugin doesn't fully cooperate with Proxmox mount points for LXC containers. It appears to be referencing the secondary disk directly as /dev/nvme1n1p1, rather than the actual mount point inside the container. Here's the full error message: mlgate:/usr/lib/systemd/system# doveadm quota get -u [1]some(a)example.com doveadm([2]some(a)example.com): Error: Failed to get quota resource STORAGE: quota-fs: quotactl(Q_GETQUOTA, /dev/nvme1n1p1) failed: No such file or directory Are there any parameters that need to be adjusted to make this work, or is there an alternative plugin that would handle this setup better? //Kim

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In an email client, tasks accumulate and are queued using the IMAP protocol
by Lafiel Elentari 08 Feb '26

08 Feb '26

Hello. By default, the email client uses 4 IMAP connections. However, tasks often hang, and changes to email statuses made via the web interface are not reflected in the client. I tried enabling imap-hibernate, which cleared the queue, but the issue with updating email statuses persisted. Is this a problem with the email client or the Dovecot server? -- Best regards, Lafiel Elentari mailto:lafiel@elven.pw

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Configuring the Outbox folder in an email client
by Lafiel Elentari 08 Feb '26

08 Feb '26

Hello. The Bat! email client, when using the IMAP protocol, comes with three pre-defined folders: "Outbox," "Sent Mail," and "Trash." While setting up the "Sent Mail" and "Trash" folders is simple, configuring the "Outbox" folder may be less obvious. How should it be set up? Is it correct to designate the Drafts folder for this purpose? -- Best regards, Lafiel Elentari mailto:lafiel@elven.pw

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doveadm sync panic
by Roberto Puzzanghera 07 Feb '26

07 Feb '26

I am experiencing a consistent panic while using doveadm sync on Dovecot v2.4.2. The panic occurs during a synchronization attempt between two servers. It appears that the sync panics when entering in a .Junk.Something folder. Any idea? I attach the log lines and my configuration Any help would be appreciated Roberto # doveadm -D sync -u postmaster@domain-tld tcp:10.0.0.24:12345 [...] Feb 06 22:39:46 doveadm(postmaster(a)domain.tld): Panic: file hash.c: line 252 (hash_table_insert_node): assertion failed: (opcode == HASH_TABLE_OP_UPDATE) Feb 06 22:39:46 doveadm(postmaster(a)domain.tld): Error: Raw backtrace: libdovecot.so.0(backtrace_append+0x40) [0x7f7bba941860] -> libdovecot.so.0(backtrace_get+0x22) [0x7f7bba9419b2] -> libdovecot.so.0(+0x14fc12) [0x7f7bba94fc12] -> libdovecot.so.0(+0x14fc41) [0x7f7bba94fc41] -> libdovecot.so.0(+0x72375) [0x7f7bba872375] -> libdovecot.so.0(+0x732c3) [0x7f7bba8732c3] -> doveadm(dsync_mailbox_tree_build_name128_hash+0x9a) [0x55e5f58108ba] -> doveadm(dsync_mailbox_tree_fill+0x750) [0x55e5f5811bb0] -> doveadm(dsync_brain_mailbox_trees_init+0x192) [0x55e5f58055b2] -> doveadm(dsync_brain_master_init+0x191) [0x55e5f5801f51] -> doveadm(+0x3544b) [0x55e5f57e644b] -> doveadm(+0x3794e) [0x55e5f57e894e] -> doveadm(doveadm_cmd_ver2_to_mail_cmd_wrapper+0x244) [0x55e5f57e9684] -> doveadm(doveadm_cmdline_run+0x593) [0x55e5f57fd473] -> doveadm(doveadm_cmdline_try_run+0xba) [0x55e5f57fc67a] -> doveadm(main+0x2fd) [0x55e5f57dacfd] -> libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xcd) [0x7f7bba4fd03d] -> doveadm(_start+0x2a) [0x55e5f57db0ea] # doveconf -n # 2.4.2 (): /usr/local/dovecot/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 2.4.2 (767418c3) # OS: Linux 6.15.3 x86_64 Slackware 15.0 # Hostname: qt dovecot_config_version = 2.4.2 auth_allow_cleartext = yes auth_allow_weak_schemes = yes auth_default_domain = mydomain.tld auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_socket_path = ../../../var/run/dovecot/auth-userdb debug_log_path = /var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log default_login_user = vpopmail doveadm_password = # hidden, use -P to show it dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.2 first_valid_gid = 89 first_valid_uid = 89 fts_autoindex = yes fts_autoindex_max_recent_msgs = 999 fts_search_add_missing = yes hostname = mydomain.tld last_valid_gid = 89 last_valid_uid = 89 listen { * = yes :: = no } log_debug = category=mail log_path = /var/log/dovecot/dovecot.log mail_access_groups = 89 mail_driver = maildir mail_gid = 89 mail_path = ~/Maildir mail_plugins { notify = yes fts = no fts_solr = no quota = yes } mail_privileged_group = 89 mail_uid = 89 mailbox_list_validate_fs_names = no passdb_default_password_scheme = SHA512-CRYPT postmaster_address = postmaster(a)mydomain.tld protocols { imap = yes pop3 = yes sieve = yes } sendmail_path = /var/qmail/bin/sendmail sql_driver = mysql ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1.1 passdb sql { query = SELECT CONCAT(vpopmail.pw_name, '@', vpopmail.pw_domain) AS user, vpopmail.pw_passwd AS password, vpopmail.pw_dir AS userdb_home, 89 AS userdb_uid, 89 AS userdb_gid, CONCAT(REPLACE(SUBSTRING_INDEX(vpopmail.pw_shell, 'S', 1), 'NOQUOTA', '0'), 'B') AS userdb_quota_storage_size FROM vpopmail LEFT JOIN aliasdomains ON aliasdomains.alias='%{user | domain}' LEFT JOIN limits ON limits.domain='%{user | domain}' WHERE vpopmail.pw_name='%{user | username}' AND (vpopmail.pw_domain='%{user | domain}' OR vpopmail.pw_domain=aliasdomains.domain) AND ('%{local_port}'!='995' OR !(vpopmail.pw_gid & 2)) AND ('%{remote_ip}'!='10.0.0.4' OR !(vpopmail.pw_gid & 4)) AND ('%{remote_ip}'='10.0.0.4' OR '%{local_port}'!='993' OR !(vpopmail.pw_gid & 8)) AND ('%{remote_ip}'!='10.0.0.4' OR COALESCE(disable_webmail,0)!=1) AND ('%{remote_ip}'='10.0.0.4' OR COALESCE(disable_imap,0)!=1) } userdb prefetch { driver = prefetch } userdb sql { iterate_query = SELECT CONCAT(pw_name,'@',pw_domain) AS user FROM vpopmail query = SELECT vpopmail.pw_dir AS home, 89 AS uid, 89 AS gid, CONCAT(REPLACE(SUBSTRING_INDEX(vpopmail.pw_shell, 'S', 1), 'NOQUOTA', '0'), 'B') AS quota_storage_size FROM vpopmail WHERE vpopmail.pw_name='%{user | username}' AND vpopmail.pw_domain='%{user | domain}' } namespace inbox { inbox = yes mailbox Drafts { auto = subscribe special_use = "\\Drafts" } mailbox Junk { autoexpunge = 30d special_use = "\\Junk" } mailbox Junk.TeachSpam { auto = subscribe autoexpunge = 30d } mailbox Junk.TeachNotSpam { auto = subscribe autoexpunge = 30d } mailbox Trash { autoexpunge = 60d special_use = "\\Trash" quota_storage_extra = 100M } mailbox Sent { special_use = "\\Sent" } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = "\\Sent" } } protocol !indexer-worker { mail_vsize_bg_after_count = 100 } maildir { broken_filename_sizes = yes } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { } inet_listener imaps { } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { } inet_listener pop3s { } } service imap { executable = imap postlogin } service pop3 { executable = pop3 postlogin } service postlogin { executable = script-login ../../etc/scripts/dovecot_postlogin.sh user = vpopmail unix_listener postlogin { group = vchkpw mode = 0660 user = vpopmail } } service auth { user = $SET:default_internal_user unix_listener auth-userdb { group = vchkpw mode = 0660 user = vpopmail } } service auth-worker { user = $SET:default_internal_user } service stats { unix_listener stats-reader { group = vchkpw mode = 0660 user = vpopmail } unix_listener stats-writer { group = vchkpw mode = 0660 user = vpopmail } } protocol lda { mail_plugins { sieve = yes mail_log = yes } } protocol imap { mail_plugins { notify = yes mail_log = yes imap_sieve = yes imap_quota = yes } } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } } service managesieve { } protocol pop3 { mail_plugins { notify = yes mail_log = yes } } language en { default = yes } quota "User quota" { driver = count storage_grace = 10M quota_warning overquota { quota_storage_percentage = 100 execute quota-warning { args = 100 %{user} } } quota_warning warn-95 { quota_storage_percentage = 95 execute quota-warning { args = 95 %{user} } } quota_warning warn-85 { quota_storage_percentage = 85 execute quota-warning { args = 85 %{user} } } } service quota-warning { executable = script ../../etc/scripts/quota-warning.sh user = vpopmail unix_listener quota-warning { group = vchkpw mode = 0660 user = dovenull } } sieve_script personal { active_path = ~/.sieve/dovecot.sieve driver = file path = ~/.sieve } sieve_script move-spam { cause = delivery path = /usr/local/dovecot/etc/sieve/move-spam.sieve type = before } mysql 10.0.0.112 { dbname = vpopmail_test password = # hidden, use -P to show it user = vpopmail_test } ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem key_file = /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem }

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About mail_inbox_path and mail location
by Aki Tuomi 06 Feb '26

06 Feb '26

Hi! We've been noticing that many people are configuring mail_inbox_path. I assume that for most people this is because debian decided to include it in their default config, so that it would use /var/mail boxes for user INBOXes. If your inbox *does not* reside in some weird location, you should *not* set this setting to any value, instead you can either ensure it's commented out, or set to empty value. IN PARTICULAR, IT IS **NOT** REQUIRED SETTING. Setting it to some random weird value like '.' will just cause Problems, setting it to $MAIL_HOME/ or something else will just be either pointless or cause problems. Some most common conversions (please adjust to your environment) mail_home= /home/vmail/%u => mail_home = /home/vmail/%{user} mail_home = /home/vmail/%d/%u => mail_home = /home/vmail/%{user|domain}/%{user|username} or some variant of this. mail_location = maildir:~/ => mail_path = ~/ mail_driver = maildir mail_location = maildir:/var/srv/foo/%d/%u => mail_path = /var/srv/foo/%{user|domain}/%{user|username} mail_driver = maildir In addition you might want to convert INDEX=~/.index => mail_index_path=~/.index CONTROL=~/.control => mail_control_path=~/.control LAYOUT=fs => mailbox_list_layout=fs A minimal working config is mail_home=/home/vmail/%{user} mail_driver=maildir mail_path=~/maildir mail_uid=vmail mail_gid=vmail ## If you have settings like namespace other { location = maildir:/foo/bar } this converts into namespace other { mail_path = /foo/bar # optional, if this is matches your top level mail_driver = maildir } Hope this clears out some of the confusion. Aki

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Error: ldap: auth_passdb_post settings
by Ruud Baart 06 Feb '26

06 Feb '26

Dovecot 2.4.1 works fine on my Debian Trixie server. I use LDAP as backend for the users. I don't have problems. Authentication works fine. However logging show every time the following line: auth-worker(<user name@domain,::1)<109040><3v5ddOlJvrgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAB>: request [7]: Error: ldap: auth_passdb_post settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand passdb_fields/password setting variables: ldap: No such attribute 'userpassword' The LDAP authentication works correct. So I don't understand this message. My correct working LDAP configuration in auth-ldap.conf.ext: passdb ldap { passdb_use_worker = yes passdb_ldap_filter = (&(objectClass=PromptMailUser)(accountStatus=TRUE)(mailDeliveryaddress=%{user})) ldap_bind = yes fields { user = %{ldap:mailDeliveryaddress} password = %{ldap:userPassword} } } userdb ldap { userdb_use_worker = yes userdb_ldap_filter = (&(objectClass=PromptMailUser)(accountStatus=TRUE)(mailDeliveryaddress=%{user})) fields { home = %{ldap:mailBase} mail = %{ldap:mailMessageStore} mail_path = %{ldap:mailMessageStore} quota_storage_size = %{ldap:dovecotQuota} } }

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