This sounds to me like a "RTFM" question, but I've read the Wiki, and looked through the m.l. archives as far back as July... I still don't have a clear answer, so I'm posting here :/
I'm currently using mutt as my mail client. It runs on the same host that runs the sendmail MTA for my domain. So sendmail "delivers" my mail to /var/mail/<username>, and I read it from that location w/ mutt, transferring the "new" mail to a folder in my home directory if I want to save it (/home/<username>/Mail/<foldername>).
This arrangement has been convenient, useful and reasonably secure (I think): I can check mail from anywhere via SSH, and I don't have to worry about downloading virus-laden spam/shit to my Windoze (corporate) laptop.
Now, I want to change; I want to use dovecot to provide IMAP access to my mail. I'd like to do this in such a way that I can still access mail using mutt when I want/need to do so.
I've installed dovecot, and reviewed /etc/dovecot.conf. I think I need to do the following to get underway:
create a directory for Maildir-formatted folders: mkdir /home/<username>/Maildir
start the dovecot daemon
Is that it? Will dovecot "take over" from mutt, and put mail in my home directory? Or do I need to configure sendmail to deliver to dovecot?
Also, there are other users/email accounts on the mail server that I would like to leave "as-is". Over time, I may want to migrate them to dovecot as well, but I'm reluctant to switch everything over until I've had a chance to evaluate it.
Should I run dovecot as a "rootless" installation to get it for a single user, or should I just set my single UID in dovecot.conf?
Thanks, Jay