So, what I'd like to see is something similar - a command that I can issue that will cause Dovecot to dump all of the configuration parameters it is currently using in a neat, orderly arrangement.
egrep '^[[:space:]]*[a-zA-Z{}]+' /etc/dovecot.conf
Sure, there are tons of different ways of getting the information, but what is nice about the postconf way is the output is consistent, both in content and form.
I think that is an incredibly simple yet powerful tool for troubleshooting purposes, and I'm actually surprised that every program out there doesn't provide the same thing.
Or did you mean it should also show default values if nothing else is specified in the config? Then it could be a command line switch of the dovecot binary, just like --version or --build-options.
I don't use postfix, but AFAIR postconf does a little more, like printing individual paramaters if requested, read postifx' spread config etc.
Right - so there could be a few different levels, kindof like differing debug levels for logs, but the developer could say "show me the output of 'doveconf -n'", and know exactly what is being provided. If they need more info, they could ask for a dump of ALL parameters being used("show me the output of 'doveconf -a'").
It's just a thought.
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Best regards,
Charles