[Dovecot] Can't get dovecot to see email folders
So I'm very frustrated, I've spent the better part of a day trying to get dovecot 2.0.1 working...Most of the documentation on the Wiki seems to think you are running an older version and therefore very little of it applies.
I'm running 2.0.1 on OpenSolaris.
I seem to have 2 remaining issues:
- Dovecot is not able to determine the home directory
- IMAP clients can not get to the mail folder directory. One client is reporting that it can't open it in read only mode.
- I tried to get raw logging working, but apparently I couldn't because of #1.
The architecture of Dovecot makes it difficult to transition from another IMAP server. If I force the MBOX to be /home/%u/mail, all of my clients think the folders are in /home/%u/mail/mail. If I set mbox location to /home/%u, then dovecot tries to create .subscription and .imap files/directories in the users home dir which it doesn't have permission to do. It would be nice if you could configure Dovecot in such a way as to make transition easier, such as the ability to strip off a duplicate trailing path, ie /home/%u/mail/mail becomes /home/%u/mail....Otherwise this necessitates visiting countless IMAP clients for reconfiguration...
Here is my config file: /opt/sbin/dovecot -n
2.0.1: /opt/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
OS: SunOS 5.11 i86pc
base_dir = /var/run/dovecot/ mail_debug = yes mail_gid = mail mail_location = mbox:/home/%u/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u mail_privileged_group = mail mail_uid = dovecot passdb { driver = pam } plugin { home = /home/%u } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { address = * port = 993 } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { address = * port = 0 } inet_listener pop3s { address = * port = 0 } } ssl_cert = </usr/local/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem ssl_key = </usr/local/ssl/private/dovecot.pem gremlin [/opt/bin] # gremlin [/opt/bin] #
Read up on namespace configuration some more.
Dovecot makes the sort of thing you're talking about very easy if you familiarize yourself with namespaces first. It can overcome most of the problems caused by historical poor choices in client configuration.
-Brian
On Aug 26, 2010, at 4:09 PM, Blaster <blaster@556nato.com> wrote:
So I'm very frustrated, I've spent the better part of a day trying to get dovecot 2.0.1 working...Most of the documentation on the Wiki seems to think you are running an older version and therefore very little of it applies.
I'm running 2.0.1 on OpenSolaris.
I seem to have 2 remaining issues:
- Dovecot is not able to determine the home directory
- IMAP clients can not get to the mail folder directory. One client is reporting that it can't open it in read only mode.
- I tried to get raw logging working, but apparently I couldn't because of #1.
The architecture of Dovecot makes it difficult to transition from another IMAP server. If I force the MBOX to be /home/%u/mail, all of my clients think the folders are in /home/%u/mail/mail. If I set mbox location to /home/%u, then dovecot tries to create .subscription and .imap files/directories in the users home dir which it doesn't have permission to do. It would be nice if you could configure Dovecot in such a way as to make transition easier, such as the ability to strip off a duplicate trailing path, ie /home/%u/mail/mail becomes /home/%u/mail....Otherwise this necessitates visiting countless IMAP clients for reconfiguration...
Here is my config file: /opt/sbin/dovecot -n
2.0.1: /opt/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
OS: SunOS 5.11 i86pc
base_dir = /var/run/dovecot/ mail_debug = yes mail_gid = mail mail_location = mbox:/home/%u/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u mail_privileged_group = mail mail_uid = dovecot passdb { driver = pam } plugin { home = /home/%u } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { address = * port = 993 } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { address = * port = 0 } inet_listener pop3s { address = * port = 0 } } ssl_cert = </usr/local/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem ssl_key = </usr/local/ssl/private/dovecot.pem gremlin [/opt/bin] # gremlin [/opt/bin] #
Thanks for the tip. I saw the section on converting from uw-imap, but it's still not working. I still can not get to my mail folders, other than INBOX. I think the problem goes back to Dovecot can't determine the home directory?
ug 26 22:08:36 gremlin dovecot: [ID 583609 mail.debug] imap(id): Debug: Effective uid=5002, gid=6, home=
I don't think home= should be blank? Yet it is trying to create .subscription files and .ima directories, but I have no clue why I can't get raw logging working.
On 8/26/2010 6:34 PM, Brian Hayden wrote:
Read up on namespace configuration some more.
Dovecot makes the sort of thing you're talking about very easy if you familiarize yourself with namespaces first. It can overcome most of the problems caused by historical poor choices in client configuration.
-Brian
On 2010-08-26 11:18 PM, Blaster <blaster@556nato.com> wrote:
Thanks for the tip. I saw the section on converting from uw-imap, but it's still not working. I still can not get to my mail folders, other than INBOX. I think the problem goes back to Dovecot can't determine the home directory?
ug 26 22:08:36 gremlin dovecot: [ID 583609 mail.debug] imap(id): Debug: Effective uid=5002, gid=6, home=
I don't think home= should be blank? Yet it is trying to create .subscription files and .ima directories, but I have no clue why I can't get raw logging working.
I didn't see a userdb setting in your doveconf -n output, so how are you storing/looking up users/setting the users home directory?
Assuming you're using Virtual users:
http://wiki2.dovecot.org/VirtualUsers
--
Best regards,
Charles
Charles,
Thanks for much for your tips...I have gotten further!
I did have a userdb section, but I commented it out because it didn't seem to do anything. I've added it back in, and now home= is filled in appropriately. Now my mail clients aren't complaining!
However, Thunderbird, Outloook, etc, are still not able to list private
folders. If I make a new folder, it gets created in /home/%u/mail as it
should, but Thunderbird removes it again on the next refresh. If I use
the mail client on my Android phone which does a raw directory listing,
I'm put into the correct /home/%u/mail folder, so that part is working.
So this seems to be a foldering listing problem? I've copied in the
UW-IMAP namespace section from the WIKI.
HEre's my current config file, any thoughts as to why Thunderbird isn't picking up the private folders?
/opt/sbin/dovecot -n
2.0.1: /opt/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
OS: SunOS 5.11 i86pc
base_dir = /var/run/dovecot/ first_valid_uid = 100 mail_debug = yes mail_gid = mail mail_location = mbox:/home/%u/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u mail_privileged_group = mail mail_uid = dovecot namespace { inbox = yes location = prefix = separator = / } namespace { hidden = yes list = yes location = prefix = mail/ separator = / } namespace { hidden = yes list = yes location = prefix = ~/mail/ separator = / } namespace { hidden = yes list = yes location = prefix = /home/%u/mail/ separator = / } passdb { driver = pam } plugin { home = /home/%u } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { address = * port = 993 } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { address = * port = 0 } inet_listener pop3s { address = * port = 0 } } ssl_cert = </usr/local/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem ssl_key = </usr/local/ssl/private/dovecot.pem userdb { driver = passwd }
On 8/28/2010 11:08 AM, Blaster wrote:
I've copied in the UW-IMAP namespace section from the WIKI.
<snip>
namespace { inbox = yes location =
I don't understand namespaces real well, but the wiki examples didn't have a location = setting at all... so maybe try removing that?
--
Best regards,
Charles
Your Thunderbird clients are set to show only subscribed folders. Dovecot by default is not looking got the same subscriptions file that uw-imap was. So, thunderbird shows no mailboxes because the (new) subscription file is empty.
This is one of the many reasons why subscriptions are bad, especially come migration time. Another? It's likely you'll need to tweak your namespaces once you do get thunderbird using the right subs, because each client has it's own heinous way of mid-handling subs which result in disgusting interactions with the "imap root" setting and namespaces. And by "tweak" I mean re-do over and over till you quit and move to the Bahamas to panhandle on the beach.
Take this as a golden opportunity to start fresh. At the very least, get your clients set to the same imap root and have them re-sub to the folders they want after you stabilize your namespaces. Better yet, disable the "show only subscribed folders" setting and teach your users the magic that is hierarchical folders. They don't have to see everything at once. :)
-Brian
On Aug 28, 2010, at 10:08 AM, Blaster <blaster@556nato.com> wrote:
Charles,
Thanks for much for your tips...I have gotten further!
I did have a userdb section, but I commented it out because it didn't seem to do anything. I've added it back in, and now home= is filled in appropriately. Now my mail clients aren't complaining!
However, Thunderbird, Outloook, etc, are still not able to list private folders. If I make a new folder, it gets created in /home/%u/mail as it should, but Thunderbird removes it again on the next refresh. If I use the mail client on my Android phone which does a raw directory listing, I'm put into the correct /home/%u/mail folder, so that part is working. So this seems to be a foldering listing problem? I've copied in the UW-IMAP namespace section from the WIKI.
HEre's my current config file, any thoughts as to why Thunderbird isn't picking up the private folders?
/opt/sbin/dovecot -n
2.0.1: /opt/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
OS: SunOS 5.11 i86pc
base_dir = /var/run/dovecot/ first_valid_uid = 100 mail_debug = yes mail_gid = mail mail_location = mbox:/home/%u/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u mail_privileged_group = mail mail_uid = dovecot namespace { inbox = yes location = prefix = separator = / } namespace { hidden = yes list = yes location = prefix = mail/ separator = / } namespace { hidden = yes list = yes location = prefix = ~/mail/ separator = / } namespace { hidden = yes list = yes location = prefix = /home/%u/mail/ separator = / } passdb { driver = pam } plugin { home = /home/%u } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { address = * port = 993 } } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { address = * port = 0 } inet_listener pop3s { address = * port = 0 } } ssl_cert = </usr/local/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem ssl_key = </usr/local/ssl/private/dovecot.pem userdb { driver = passwd }
You are correct, it was a subscription issue (and a permissions one as well, as I had screwed around with those while trying to figure stuff out) I managed to figure that out about an hour before you sent your email :) I eventually found the issue discussed in wiki2.
I don't see where UW-IMAP was using a subscription file though. I used
it for about 5 years or more and never saw one, still can't see one.
Not sure how Thunderbird was working with that IMAP server.
It also looks like Thunderbird 3 has now changed how it deletes emails and no longer immediately removes them from the INBOX when the trash is emptied like it used to. Looks like I have to screw around with that now.
It's nice to have Dovecot working. Better security and instant email notification now!
The concept of the namespace stuff makes sense to me, but I still don't understand how Dovecot works with it in the .conf file. The documentation there could use some work.
Thanks again for the help.
On 8/28/2010 7:03 PM, Brian Hayden wrote:
Your Thunderbird clients are set to show only subscribed folders. Dovecot by default is not looking got the same subscriptions file that uw-imap was. So, thunderbird shows no mailboxes because the (new) subscription file is empty.
This is one of the many reasons why subscriptions are bad, especially come migration time. Another? It's likely you'll need to tweak your namespaces once you do get thunderbird using the right subs, because each client has it's own heinous way of mid-handling subs which result in disgusting interactions with the "imap root" setting and namespaces. And by "tweak" I mean re-do over and over till you quit and move to the Bahamas to panhandle on the beach.
Take this as a golden opportunity to start fresh. At the very least, get your clients set to the same imap root and have them re-sub to the folders they want after you stabilize your namespaces. Better yet, disable the "show only subscribed folders" setting and teach your users the magic that is hierarchical folders. They don't have to see everything at once. :)
-Brian
On 2010-08-26 7:34 PM, Brian Hayden <bdh@machinehum.com> wrote:
Dovecot makes the sort of thing you're talking about very easy if you familiarize yourself with namespaces first. It can overcome most of the problems caused by historical poor choices in client configuration.
http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Namespaces
--
Best regards,
Charles
Blaster wrote:
Wiki seems to think you are running an older version and therefore very little of it applies.
Are you looking at the wiki for dovecot 1 or 2?
At the very top of the wiki for v1 (http://wiki.dovecot.org), it tells you about the page for v2 (http://wiki2.dovecot.org/)
--
Best regards,
Charles
participants (4)
-
Blaster
-
Blaster
-
Brian Hayden
-
Charles Marcus