Re: Error I can't fix

27 Dec 2025

      Have you tried to add a section name, like
passdb auth {
}
Also if you have only few/one passdb, the section name can default as
driver, like
passdb sql {
...
}
That said, args no longer works in 2.4, see
https://doc.dovecot.org/latest/core/config/auth/databases/sql.html how to
configure it.
Aki
 On 27/12/2025 02:42 EET John Hill via dovecot &lt;[1]dovecot@dovecot.org>
 wrote:

 Hello,

 I'm encountering a reproducible parsing issue in Dovecot 2.4 on Debian
 13 (Trixie).
 Even when /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext contains a valid passdb
 block,
 Dovecot reports that the block is empty.

 Environment:
 - Debian 13 (Trixie)
 - Dovecot 2.4 (from Debian repository)
 - Clean install, no custom patches

 Error:
 doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file
 /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext line 1: passdb { } is missing
 section name

 Steps to reproduce:

 1. Remove the file:
 rm -f /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext

 2. Recreate it cleanly:
 cat > /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext &lt;&lt;'EOF'
 passdb {
 driver = sql
 args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext
 }

 userdb {
 driver = sql
 args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext
 }
 EOF

 3. Verify the file contents:
 sed -n '1,20p' /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext | cat -A

 Output:
 passdb {$
 driver = sql$
 args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext$
 }$
 $
 userdb {$
 driver = sql$
 args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext$
 }$

 4. Run:
 doveconf

 Actual result:
 Dovecot still reports that the passdb block is empty, even though the
 file is valid.

 Expected result:
 Dovecot should accept the passdb block and load SQL authentication
 normally.

 Additional notes:
 - No BOM (ef bb bf) present.
 - No CRLF (^M) present.
 - No stray characters.
 - File is not a symlink.
 - No duplicate auth-sql.conf.ext files exist.
 - The include line in 10-auth.conf is correct.
 - The error persists even after full deletion and recreation of the
 file.

 This appears to be a parser or include-path issue in Dovecot 2.4.

 Any guidance or confirmation would be appreciated.
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Re: Error I can't fix

Aki Tuomi