We've just cut over to a new mail server running Dovecot 1.0.5.
The underlying OS is RHEL 5. User mailboxes are stored in Unix mbox
format on a local ext3 file system. The MTA on the system is the
default RedHat version of Sendmail 8.13.8 with procmail for local
delivery. We're using a combination of dotlock and fcntl style locking.
The output of "dovecot -n" for this system appears below my signature.
Periodically we see errors like the following in our logs:
Oct 21 19:36:01 postoffice1 dovecot: POP3(someuser): file mbox-sync.c: line 1433 (mbox_sync_handle_eof_updates): assertion failed: (file_size >= sync_ctx->expunged_space + trailer_size) Oct 21 19:36:01 postoffice1 dovecot: POP3(someuser): Raw backtrace: pop3 [0x809eda1] -> pop3 [0x809ecbc] -> pop3(mbox_sync+0x1088) [0x806c4e8] -> pop3(mbox_storage_sync_init+0x3e) [0x806cb6e] -> pop3(client_create+0x1a4) [0x80552a4] -> pop3(main+0x556) [0x8057236] -> /lib/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xdc) [0x304dec] -> pop3 [0x8054a11] Oct 21 19:36:01 postoffice1 dovecot: child 24409 (pop3) killed with signal 6
Note that while the above log is for a POP3 user, we also see similar behavior when some users access mail folders via IMAP as well.
The real problem with this behavior is that sometimes, but not in all cases, the process will leave behind a dotlock when it exits. If the abandoned dotlock is on the user's inbox, then procmail won't deliver new mail to the user until the lock is cleared. This is a big problem.
Anybody seen this behavior before and/or know what's causing it? Can anybody suggest ideas for further debugging this issue? We'd appreciate any help that you all can provide. Thanks!
-- Hal Pomeranz, Founder/CEO Deer Run Associates hal@deer-run.com Network Connectivity and Security, Systems Management, Training
# /hpsw/mail/dovecot/sbin/dovecot -n # 1.0.5: /hpsw/mail/dovecot/etc/dovecot.conf syslog_facility: local3 protocols: imap imaps pop3 pop3s ssl_cert_file: /hpsw/mail/configs/dovecot/pki/certs/dovecot.pem ssl_key_file: /hpsw/mail/configs/dovecot/pki/private/dovecot.pem disable_plaintext_auth: no login_dir: /hpsw/mail/dovecot/var/run/dovecot/login login_executable(default): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/imap-login login_executable(imap): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/imap-login login_executable(pop3): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login mail_location: mbox:/hpsw/mail/users/%u/dovecot:INBOX=/hpsw/mail/users/%u/MBOX mbox_read_locks: dotlock fcntl mail_executable(default): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/imap mail_executable(imap): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/imap mail_executable(pop3): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/libexec/dovecot/pop3 mail_plugin_dir(default): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/lib/dovecot/imap mail_plugin_dir(imap): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/lib/dovecot/imap mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /hpsw/mail/dovecot/lib/dovecot/pop3 pop3_uidl_format(default): pop3_uidl_format(imap): pop3_uidl_format(pop3): %08Xu%08Xv auth default: passdb: driver: pam userdb: driver: passwd