[Dovecot] Dovecot and kmail IMAP resources
For some time now I have been trying to get IMAP resources working on KMail.
I have followed the docs from kde, but they tell how to configure cyrus IMAP,
so I've had to learn as I went along.
After a lot of help from the postfix list I now have a working sasl. The ability of the user 'groupware' to log in with PLAIN has been checked in a telnet session. Everything in KMail has been set up as in the documentation, but it doesn't work. Now I'm wondering if anything in my dovecot configuration needs changing.
dovecot -n
# /etc/dovecot.conf base_dir: /var/run/dovecot/ log_path: /var/log/mail/mail info_log_path: /var/log/mail/mail.info protocols: imap listen: *:143 login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login login_executable: /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login mail_extra_groups: mail mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir/ maildir_copy_with_hardlinks: yes auth default: mechanisms: plain login debug: yes debug_passwords: yes passdb: driver: pam userdb: driver: passwd socket: type: listen client: path: /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-auth mode: 432 user: postfix group: postfix master:
I'd be thankful for any help. Thanks
Anne
On Saturday 22 March 2008 14:53, Anne Wilson wrote:
For some time now I have been trying to get IMAP resources working on KMail. I have followed the docs from kde, but they tell how to configure cyrus IMAP, so I've had to learn as I went along.
Referring back to those docs, it seems that this is the part that I'm missing (cyrus instructions follow):
<quote> Now add a user named groupware and set a password for it, using your usual system tools. It should be in an unprivileged group such as nobody and does not require a login shell or a home directory.
Now I have to create the user and an IMAP in cyrus also: # cyramd --user cyrus localhost
after entering the password for the admin user cyrus, you get the prompt localhost>
localhost> cm user.groupware
localhost> lm _lists the mailbox onlyjust created_
user.groupware (\HasNoChildren))
localhost> quitYou can type help for a list of available commands.
You can check what has happened with:
ls -l /var/spool/cyrus/mail/g/user/groupware
total 12
-rw------- 1 cyrus mail 4 Oct 29 20:55 cyrus.cache
-rw------- 1 cyrus mail 155 Oct 29 20:55 cyrus.header
-rw------- 1 cyrus mail 76 Oct 29 20:55 cyrus.indexNow you should be able to connect with an IMAP client as the groupware user and see the INBOX.
NOTE In the IMAP protocol, selecting the mailbox INBOX is a magic word, a sort of "alias" for the above directory structure. The client sees INBOX, and the IMAP server maps it in the /var/spool/cyrus/mail/... folder and file structure. </quote>
How would I create a dovecot user instead of this cyrus one? My own attempt have totally failed.
Anne
At 2:43 PM +0000 3/23/08, Anne Wilson wrote:
On Saturday 22 March 2008 14:53, Anne Wilson wrote:
For some time now I have been trying to get IMAP resources working on KMail. I have followed the docs from kde, but they tell how to configure cyrus IMAP, so I've had to learn as I went along.
Referring back to those docs, it seems that this is the part that I'm missing (cyrus instructions follow):
You need to stop looking at Cyrus docs. Cyrus docs are irrelevant to Dovecot.
-- Bill Cole bill@scconsult.com
It is safe to assume that there are no clairvoyant's on this list, so you probably need to provide a bit more specific information about your difficulties to get useful suggestions. Unstated details that are relevant to narrowing down the problem include:
- What OS are you running?
- How exactly does KMail fail to work, i.e. is it just doing nothing or is it providing some sort of expression of Not Working?
- What did dovecot write to its logs when KMail failed to work?
At 2:53 PM +0000 3/22/08, Anne Wilson wrote:
For some time now I have been trying to get IMAP resources working on KMail. I have followed the docs from kde, but they tell how to configure cyrus IMAP, so I've had to learn as I went along.
After a lot of help from the postfix list I now have a working sasl. The ability of the user 'groupware' to log in with PLAIN has been checked in a telnet session. Everything in KMail has been set up as in the documentation, but it doesn't work. Now I'm wondering if anything in my dovecot configuration needs changing.
dovecot -n
# /etc/dovecot.conf base_dir: /var/run/dovecot/ log_path: /var/log/mail/mail info_log_path: /var/log/mail/mail.info protocols: imap listen: *:143 login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login login_executable: /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login mail_extra_groups: mail mail_location: maildir:~/Maildir/ maildir_copy_with_hardlinks: yes auth default: mechanisms: plain login debug: yes debug_passwords: yes passdb: driver: pam userdb: driver: passwd socket: type: listen client: path: /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-auth mode: 432 user: postfix group: postfix master:
I'd be thankful for any help. Thanks
Anne
-- Bill Cole bill@scconsult.com
On Sunday 23 March 2008 15:24, Bill Cole wrote:
It is safe to assume that there are no clairvoyant's on this list, so you probably need to provide a bit more specific information about your difficulties to get useful suggestions. Unstated details that are relevant to narrowing down the problem include:
- What OS are you running?
On the server, CentOS 5.1.
- How exactly does KMail fail to work, i.e. is it just doing nothing or is it providing some sort of expression of Not Working?
Dovecot serves my mail without a problem. I am trying to get 'IMAP Resources' in KMail working - that is, my Calendar and Addressbook also served up.
I have tried several methods as suggested by various people on the kdepim list, with various types of failure. The end result in all the efforts is that groupware folders are created, but it is not possible to import my calendar, for instance. I'm told that there is no writable folder so the import can not be saved. I've tried making them world-writable, to see whether it was a permissions problem, but it appears not.
At one point I did manage an import, but I could find no way of seeing the result from a client box.
- What did dovecot write to its logs when KMail failed to work?
Absolutely nothing. It didn't appear to notice.
I have been working on this for several days, taking advice from anywhere I can. Timo tells me that he doesn't think it's a dovecot problem, since my mail is working properly, so I guess I will just have to go back to the kdepim list.
Anne
At 4:54 PM +0000 3/23/08, Anne Wilson wrote:
On Sunday 23 March 2008 15:24, Bill Cole wrote:
It is safe to assume that there are no clairvoyant's on this list, so you probably need to provide a bit more specific information about your difficulties to get useful suggestions. Unstated details that are relevant to narrowing down the problem include:
- What OS are you running?
On the server, CentOS 5.1.
- How exactly does KMail fail to work, i.e. is it just doing nothing or is it providing some sort of expression of Not Working?
Dovecot serves my mail without a problem. I am trying to get 'IMAP Resources' in KMail working - that is, my Calendar and Addressbook also served up.
That's illuminating.
The use of that phrase with that meaning is unique to KMail. There's no standard for implementing a calendar or address book on an IMAP server, so whatever KMail needs from an IMAP server in order to do whatever it is doing to present IMAP as a basis for those functions has to be specified by KMail. I suspect that KMail needs something more than a standard IMAP server, but maybe not. If KMail claims the ability to implement calender and address book functionality with any standard IMAP server, you have to look to KMail for an explanation of how they do it.
I have tried several methods as suggested by various people on the kdepim list, with various types of failure. The end result in all the efforts is that groupware folders are created, but it is not possible to import my calendar, for instance. I'm told that there is no writable folder so the import can not be saved. I've tried making them world-writable, to see whether it was a permissions problem, but it appears not.
At one point I did manage an import, but I could find no way of seeing the result from a client box.
- What did dovecot write to its logs when KMail failed to work?
Absolutely nothing. It didn't appear to notice.
That implies that KMail is not even contacting Dovecot as part of its failure. If that is the case, then this *CANNOT* be a Dovecot problem. Given the config you posted, if KMail is contacting Dovecot there would be *SOMETHING* logged.
FWIW, I don't use KMail, but every contact I've had as a mail admin with people trying to do so has persuaded me that it is not yet ready for serious use. On this list you are about the third person in the past year to seek help here with some KMail-specific problem that doesn't seem possible unless KMail itself is fundamentally broken, and implies that the software is horrendously documented.
I have been working on this for several days, taking advice from anywhere I can. Timo tells me that he doesn't think it's a dovecot problem, since my mail is working properly, so I guess I will just have to go back to the kdepim list.
I suspect that the people there are more likely to have insight on what KMail is looking for from an IMAP server.
-- Bill Cole bill@scconsult.com
On 3/24/2008, Bill Cole (dovecot-20061108@billmail.scconsult.com) wrote:
FWIW, I don't use KMail, but every contact I've had as a mail admin with people trying to do so has persuaded me that it is not yet ready for serious use. On this list you are about the third person in the past year to seek help here with some KMail-specific problem that doesn't seem possible unless KMail itself is fundamentally broken, and implies that the software is horrendously documented.
I have read numerous stories of IMAP problems with KMail...
--
Best regards,
Charles
Charles Marcus wrote:
On 3/24/2008, Bill Cole (dovecot-20061108@billmail.scconsult.com) wrote:
FWIW, I don't use KMail, but every contact I've had as a mail admin with people trying to do so has persuaded me that it is not yet ready for serious use. On this list you are about the third person in the past year to seek help here with some KMail-specific problem that doesn't seem possible unless KMail itself is fundamentally broken, and implies that the software is horrendously documented.
I have read numerous stories of IMAP problems with KMail...
We've read numerous stories about outlook, thunderbird, netscape, ... and even about imap itself.
Last time I tried kmail, it didn't have the old problems that used to annoy me. I don't use it regularly though.
On 3/24/2008 3:54 PM, mouss wrote:
Charles Marcus wrote:
On 3/24/2008, Bill Cole (dovecot-20061108@billmail.scconsult.com) wrote:
FWIW, I don't use KMail, but every contact I've had as a mail admin with people trying to do so has persuaded me that it is not yet ready for serious use. On this list you are about the third person in the past year to seek help here with some KMail-specific problem that doesn't seem possible unless KMail itself is fundamentally broken, and implies that the software is horrendously documented.
I have read numerous stories of IMAP problems with KMail...
We've read numerous stories about outlook, thunderbird, netscape, ... and even about imap itself.
Outlook, absolutely - netscape, sure... but it certainly is *not* justified to just lump TBird in with Outlook like that.
I'm not saying TBird is perfect - far from it, it has some things that really bug me - but the *only* IMAP specific problem we have seen in our office of 60+ users of Thunderbird - been using it since 0.9, IMAP only access - is the annoying problem of 'Save to Sent' failing, but it is/was only a very occasional issue, and simply restarting Thunderbird fixes it (I haven't seen that or had any complaints about that in quite some time).
Last time I tried kmail, it didn't have the old problems that used to annoy me. I don't use it regularly though.
I've actually been looking forward to the Windows Port of KDE just to try out kde-pim - yes I still use Windows for my primary workstation... I'm not a dev, and it 'just works' for me, but my next OS 'upgrade' will definitely be a *nix box - probably PC-BSD...
--
Best regards,
Charles
On Monday 24 March 2008 14:21:20 Bill Cole wrote:
I suspect that the people there are more likely to have insight on what KMail is looking for from an IMAP server.
Just an update. It seems that the order in which things are done when setting things up is crucial. At this point my client box can see the calendar and my addressbook, though for some reason I am not getting the updates just as I should. Once all this is worked out and corrected I'll write up a how-to and put it on my web space.
For Charles - I've used kmail for more than 6 years, and kmail with dovecot for over two. I've never had the slightest problem with imap mail. I, too, have read many stories, mostly about dimap. Very many of them have turned out to be pebcak. I'm not saying it's perfect: it's not. Many things are work-around for old code. When akonadi is the backend things will be a great deal better. It's designed for the purpose from the start, whereas kmail's current backend has just grown over several years and some of the original developers are no longer around.
I depend heavily on kde-pim. It suits me perfectly. One version had a habit of losing the addressbook for no obvious reason, but since it always had backup copies it was more of an annoyance than show-stopper. That's the only time I've ever had any problems whatsoever.
Anne
On Monday 24 March 2008 14:21:20 Bill Cole wrote:
The use of that phrase with that meaning is unique to KMail. There's no standard for implementing a calendar or address book on an IMAP server, so whatever KMail needs from an IMAP server in order to do whatever it is doing to present IMAP as a basis for those functions has to be specified by KMail. I suspect that KMail needs something more than a standard IMAP server, but maybe not. If KMail claims the ability to implement calender and address book functionality with any standard IMAP server, you have to look to KMail for an explanation of how they do it.
In case you're interested -
What appears to happen is that the calendar and addressbook that are created to be the groupware resources are mailed to the client box as vcards (I can't remember the correct name for the ical records). On the client box the receiving folder holds them as messages with that info in, and the addressbook and calendar part of the pim translate them back into a normal display of calendar and addressbook. Neat.
Anne
participants (5)
-
Anne Wilson
-
Bill Cole
-
Charles Marcus
-
mouss
-
Timo Sirainen