On 21/01/2026 13:38 EET Lukas via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
Hi! I am setting up a new dovecot server in order to replace my old one. I am migrating from 2.3.6 to 2.4.1. I knew it would have been difficult but I didn't think so much. At the moment I am stuck in converting my configuration of Public mailboxes with ACLs. Even if I carefully checked the documentation, I do not understand clearly some point. My server has 2 Public Mailboxes that should be seen r/w by some user, read only by some other, not seen at all by all the others. Folders created in the Public Mailboxes need to have the same access privileges as the parent Public Mailbox.
In 2.3 I set up a global ACL file containing the list of all privileges (some lines like "MAILBOX_NAME* user=USERNAME lrs" with the privileges of each user for the two mailboxes and their content) and it worked like a charm. I cannot get the same in 2.4. What I understand from dovecot 2.4 docs -correct me if I am wrong- is:
- the global ACL file (and folder) is gone, deprecated;
- I need to create a file in each folder shared in the public folder;
- I need to enable "acl_driver = vfile" in 90-acl.conf.
If I configure this way, it seems to work but I need to create a dovecot-acl file in every folder existing in the Public Mailbox... Given that the file is the same for every folder (since I do not need different privileges in my environment), should I really waste all of this time?
Please, can you tell me if I am misunderstanding this argument? The dovecot 2.4 choice for this feature is really this or I am missing something? There is definitely no way to have something like the 2.3 global ACL file?
Thank for help and patience. Bye
Lukas
Hi!
ACL rules can be configured in config file now:
acl_driver = vfile
can create many but use only one.
group @acl_ruleset acl_ruleset1 { acl user=user1 { rights = lri } acl anyone { rights = } }
group @acl_ruleset acl_default { acl group=people { rights = lri } acl anyone { rights = } }
namespace public { mail_path = /home/public/mail mail_index_private_path = %{home}/.public
mailbox "foo" { @acl_ruleset = acl_ruleset1 } mailbox "bar" { @acl_ruleset = acl_ruleset1 }
@acl_ruleset = acl_default }
Aki