On Sat, Jun 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM Eugene R via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
Hello!
I am planning a migration of the Postfix/Dovecot mail system to a new FreeBSD server.
In recent years, I have come to prefer the official ports/packages installations; however, the FreeBSD port of Dovecot is still at 2.3.21 which is substantially different from the current upstream 2.4.1.
I have no problems with installing from sources (have been doing that for a long time) but I wonder what is the recommended approach with regard to the installation and configuration paths. I would prefer to follow the standard conventions and eventually switch to the ports-based install once it catches up, with minimal disruption and reconfiguration.
Thank you in advance Eugene
The most important parts of Dovecot are the files in etc/dovecot/ and these, IIRC, don't refer to any absolute paths. So you could just use "./configure --prefix=/opt/dovecot2.4" and add your favorite options to install Dovecot. Once 2.4 hits the FreeBSD ports, you'll simply move these files to /usr/local/etc/dovecot and you are done.
PS: I might not have understood your dilemma since you mentioned that you've been installing from sources for a long time.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 In an Internet failure case, the #1 suspect is a constant: DNS. "Oh, the cruft.", egrep -v '^$|^.*#' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :-) [How to ask smart questions: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html]
On Sat, Jun 7, 2025 at 3:56 PM Eugene R via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote: Hello!
I am planning a migration of the Postfix/Dovecot mail system to a new
FreeBSD server.
In recent years, I have come to prefer the official ports/packages
installations; however, the FreeBSD port of Dovecot is still at
2.3.21
which is substantially different from the current upstream 2.4.1.
I have no problems with installing from sources (have been doing that
for a long time) but I wonder what is the recommended approach with
regard to the installation and configuration paths. I would prefer to
follow the standard conventions and eventually switch to the ports-
based
install once it catches up, with minimal disruption and
reconfiguration.
Thank you in advance
EugeneThe most important parts of Dovecot are the files in etc/dovecot/ and these, IIRC, don't refer to any absolute paths. So you could just use "./configure --prefix=/opt/dovecot2.4" and add your favorite options to install Dovecot. Once 2.4 hits the FreeBSD ports, you'll simply move these files to /usr/local/ etc/dovecot and you are done.
PS: I might not have understood your dilemma since you mentioned that you've been installing from sources for a long time.
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 In an Internet failure case, the #1 suspect is a constant: DNS. "Oh, the cruft.", egrep -v '^$|^.*#' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :-) [How to ask smart questions: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart- questions.html]