On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 2:44 PM Joel Mawhorter via dovecot < dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 11:45:54 +0300 Washington Odhiambo <odhiambo@gmail.com> wrote:
On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 3:44 AM Joel Mawhorter via dovecot < dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
On Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:05:20 +0100 Matthias Fechner <idefix@fechner.net> wrote:
Am 28.01.2026 um 12:58 schrieb Joel Mawhorter via dovecot:
./autogen.sh ./configure --enable-maintainer-mode make on BSD you must use gmake if you want to use GNU make and not BSD make.
Thanks. That was my problem. It now seems to work with the latest from Github on OpenBSD 7.8. Thanks to everyone for your help.
One more quick question. I'm planning to try to install 2.4 in parallel with 2.3 on OpenBSD until I can get everything moved over and wonder if there is any easy way with the current Makefiles to install under somewhere else other than /usr/local/?
You can always run ./configure --prefix=/SOME/OTHER/PATH, e.g. --prefix=/opt/ Why don't you run the other one in a VM?
Oddly, when I compile the latest Github HEAD branch after ¨./configure" without any options, everything builds fine. If I compile after "./configure --prefix=/opt/dovecot", I get the following build error:
gmake[3]: Entering directory '/home/joel/dovecot/src/lib-charset' CC charset-iconv.lo charset-iconv.c:7:10: fatal error: 'iconv.h' file not found 7 | #include <iconv.h> | ^~~~~~~~~ 1 error generated. gmake[3]: *** [Makefile:810: charset-iconv.lo] Error 1 gmake[3]: Leaving directory '/home/joel/dovecot/src/lib-charset' gmake[2]: *** [Makefile:607: all-recursive] Error 1 gmake[2]: Leaving directory '/home/joel/dovecot/src' gmake[1]: *** [Makefile:744: all-recursive] Error 1 gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/home/joel/dovecot' gmake: *** [Makefile:586: all] Error 2
That's expected. Autoconf switches to prefix-relative include/library probing and stops checking the base system paths correctly for some feature tests (including iconv). As a result:
HAVE_ICONV is misdetected lib-charset is still built
but iconv.h is no longer in the compiler’s active include set during sub-builds That’s why the failure only appears with --prefix=/opt/dovecot.
I was able to reproduce that failure, and resolved it by: export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/include" export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib"
./configure
--prefix=/opt/dovecot
--enable-maintainer-mode
--with-sql=yes
--with-mysql
--with-pgsql
--enable-experimental-mail-utf8
--with-pcre2
--disable-static
-- Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 In an Internet failure case, the #1 suspect is a constant: DNS. "Oh, the cruft.", egrep -v '^$|^.*#' ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :-) [How to ask smart questions: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html]
On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 2:44PM Joel Mawhorter via dovecot <[1]dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2026 11:45:54 +0300
Washington Odhiambo <[2]odhiambo@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Feb 1, 2026 at 3:44AM Joel Mawhorter via dovecot <
> [3]dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
>
> > On Wed, 28 Jan 2026 13:05:20 +0100
> > Matthias Fechner <[4]idefix@fechner.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Am 28.01.2026 um 12:58 schrieb Joel Mawhorter via dovecot:
> > > > ./autogen.sh
> > > > ./configure --enable-maintainer-mode
> > > > make
> > > on BSD you must use gmake if you want to use GNU make and not BSD
make.
> >
> > Thanks. That was my problem. It now seems to work with the latest
from
> > Github on OpenBSD 7.8. Thanks to everyone for your help.
> >
> > One more quick question. I'm planning to try to install 2.4 in
parallel
> > with 2.3 on OpenBSD until I can get everything moved over and wonder
if
> > there is any easy way with the current Makefiles to install under
somewhere
> > else other than /usr/local/?
> >
>
> You can always run ./configure --prefix=/SOME/OTHER/PATH,
> e.g. --prefix=/opt/
> Why don't you run the other one in a VM?
>
>
Oddly, when I compile the latest Github HEAD branch after "./configure"
without any options, everything builds fine. If I compile after
"./configure --prefix=/opt/dovecot", I get the following build error:
gmake[3]: Entering directory '/home/joel/dovecot/src/lib-charset'
CC charset-iconv.lo
charset-iconv.c:7:10: fatal error: 'iconv.h' file not found
7 | #include <iconv.h>
| ^~~~~~~~~
1 error generated.
gmake[3]: *** [Makefile:810: charset-iconv.lo] Error 1
gmake[3]: Leaving directory '/home/joel/dovecot/src/lib-charset'
gmake[2]: *** [Makefile:607: all-recursive] Error 1
gmake[2]: Leaving directory '/home/joel/dovecot/src'
gmake[1]: *** [Makefile:744: all-recursive] Error 1
gmake[1]: Leaving directory '/home/joel/dovecot'
gmake: *** [Makefile:586: all] Error 2That's expected. Autoconf switches to prefix-relative include/library probing and stops checking the base system paths correctly for some feature tests (including iconv). As a result:
HAVE_ICONV is misdetected lib-charset is still built
but iconv.h is no longer in the compiler's active include set during sub-builds That's why the failure only appears with --prefix=/opt/dovecot. I was able to reproduce that failure, and resolved it by: export CPPFLAGS="-I/usr/include" export LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib"
./configure
--prefix=/opt/dovecot
--enable-maintainer-mode
--with-sql=yes
--with-mysql
--with-pgsql
--enable-experimental-mail-utf8
--with-pcre2
--disable-static
Best regards, Odhiambo WASHINGTON, Nairobi,KE +254 7 3200 0004/+254 7 2274 3223 In an Internet failure case, the #1 suspect is a constant: DNS. "Oh, the cruft.", egrep -v '^$|^.*#' -\_(Tu)_/- :-) [How to ask smart questions: [5]http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html]
References
Visible links
- mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org
- mailto:odhiambo@gmail.com
- mailto:dovecot@dovecot.org
- mailto:idefix@fechner.net
- http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html