On Sat, 12 Feb 2022, Stephane Magnier wrote:
I've just tried
doveadm backup /var/spool2/mail/user1 /home/backup/
doveadm(user1): *Error: Index is read-only*, can't write-lock /var/spool2/mail/user1/dovecot.list.index.log doveadm(user1): Fatal: execvp(/var/spool2/mail/user1) failed: Permission denied dsync-local(user1)
: Error: read(remote) failed: EOF (version not received) even this, with a chmod 777 on the all folder ( /var/spool2/mail/user1 before :-( )
The way I use it is # doveadm backup -u $MAILBOX mdbox:/path/to/backup/$MAILBOX/mdbox
where MAILBOX=user@domain (or just user, depending on how you've setup dovecot). (note, I use mdbox, both for "live" dovecot and for the backup).
I don't think the way you're using it works, because the argument to doveadm backup is the user and not the physical path where the mailbox is stored.
For completeness, my full script (run via cron.weekly) is: --<<-- USERS=$(cut -d: -f1 /etc/dovecot/virtual_passwd)
for MAILBOX in $USERS; do doveadm expunge -u "$MAILBOX" mailbox Trash savedbefore 7d doveadm expunge -u "$MAILBOX" mailbox Spam savedbefore 30d doveadm purge -u "$MAILBOX"
LOCATION2="mdbox:/srv/snap_mail/$MAILBOX/mdbox"
doveadm -v backup -u "$MAILBOX" -P "$LOCATION2"done -->>--
The backup is then at /srv/snap_mail, which I can rsync wherever I want to..
Cheers, Bernardo