mdbox: double forward-slash in mail_path
Hello List!
I am testing mdbox on Dovecot 2.4.1 (currently using Maildir, but thinking of converting).
I created a test server with a test domain. Installed relevant software from default repos on Debian 13:
- Postfix
- Dovecot 2.4.1
- PostfixAdmin
- MariaDB
After I had created an email address, I checked the settings as follows:
# doveadm user mail@$REDACTED
field value
uid 5000
gid 5000
home /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail/
mail_path /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail//mdbox
quota_rule *:bytes=1048576000
As you can see, there is a double forward-slash in the mail_path line.
From /etc/dovecot/local.d/10-mail.conf:
mail_driver = mdbox
mail_path = ~/mdbox
This is based on the official Dovecot docs page (see at the very bottom): https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/core/config/mailbox_formats/dbox.html
Is this harmful, or just "cosmetic"? Have I made a mistake somewhere?
I presume the mail_path line is not even required, as it is the default for that mail_driver.
Thank you for your time and reply.
Kind regards, Edmund Lodewijks
-- Edmund Lodewijks <edmund@proteamail.com> TZ: UCT+2 / GMT+2
On 23/10/2025 12:29 EEST Edmund Lodewijks via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
Hello List!
I am testing mdbox on Dovecot 2.4.1 (currently using Maildir, but thinking of converting).
I created a test server with a test domain. Installed relevant software from default repos on Debian 13:
- Postfix
- Dovecot 2.4.1
- PostfixAdmin
- MariaDB
After I had created an email address, I checked the settings as follows:
# doveadm user mail@$REDACTED field value uid 5000 gid 5000 home /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail/ mail_path /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail//mdbox quota_rule *:bytes=1048576000As you can see, there is a double forward-slash in the mail_path line.
From /etc/dovecot/local.d/10-mail.conf:
mail_driver = mdbox mail_path = ~/mdboxThis is based on the official Dovecot docs page (see at the very bottom): https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/core/config/mailbox_formats/dbox.html
Is this harmful, or just "cosmetic"? Have I made a mistake somewhere?
I presume the mail_path line is not even required, as it is the default for that mail_driver.
Thank you for your time and reply.
Kind regards, Edmund Lodewijks
-- Edmund Lodewijks <edmund@proteamail.com> TZ: UCT+2 / GMT+2
It would be helpful to provide doveconf -n.
Aki
On 2025-10-23 11:37, Aki Tuomi wrote:
..[snip].. It would be helpful to provide doveconf -n.
Aki
https://proteamail.com/doveconf-n.txt
Thank you, Aki!
Edmund-- Edmund Lodewijks <edmund@proteamail.com> TZ: UCT+2 / GMT+2
This is because your mail_home ends with /. It's cosmetic issue.
Aki
On 23/10/2025 12:37 EEST Aki Tuomi via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
On 23/10/2025 12:29 EEST Edmund Lodewijks via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
Hello List!
I am testing mdbox on Dovecot 2.4.1 (currently using Maildir, but thinking of converting).
I created a test server with a test domain. Installed relevant software from default repos on Debian 13:
- Postfix
- Dovecot 2.4.1
- PostfixAdmin
- MariaDB
After I had created an email address, I checked the settings as follows:
# doveadm user mail@$REDACTED field value uid 5000 gid 5000 home /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail/ mail_path /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail//mdbox quota_rule *:bytes=1048576000As you can see, there is a double forward-slash in the mail_path line.
From /etc/dovecot/local.d/10-mail.conf:
mail_driver = mdbox mail_path = ~/mdboxThis is based on the official Dovecot docs page (see at the very bottom): https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/core/config/mailbox_formats/dbox.html
Is this harmful, or just "cosmetic"? Have I made a mistake somewhere?
I presume the mail_path line is not even required, as it is the default for that mail_driver.
Thank you for your time and reply.
Kind regards, Edmund Lodewijks
-- Edmund Lodewijks <edmund@proteamail.com> TZ: UCT+2 / GMT+2
It would be helpful to provide doveconf -n.
Aki
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
On 2025-10-23 13:56, Aki Tuomi wrote:
This is because your mail_home ends with /. It's cosmetic issue.
Aki
Thank you for the quick response!
Is that because of the SQL query? I don't really see where else "mail_home" is specified.
Edmund-- Edmund Lodewijks <edmund@proteamail.com> TZ: UCT+2 / GMT+2 PGP: 6812 9977 F901 B4BF 1272 This was sent via webmail, and is therefore not signed.
On 23/10/2025 17:02, Benny Pedersen via dovecot wrote:
Edmund Lodewijks via dovecot skrev den 2025-10-23 11:29:
doveadm user mail@$REDACTED
field value uid 5000 gid 5000 home /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail/
this last /
mail_path /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail//mdbox
mail_path = ~/mdbox
FWIW, Linux couldn't care less how many consecutive / characters you have in the path. They only count as one.
On 23/10/2025 17:02, Benny Pedersen via dovecot wrote:
Edmund Lodewijks via dovecot skrev den 2025-10-23 11:29:
# doveadm user mail@$REDACTED
field value
uid 5000
gid 5000
home /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail/
this last /
mail_path /vhosts/$REDACTED/mail//mdbox
mail_path = ~/mdboxFWIW, Linux couldn't care less how many consecutive / characters you have in the path. They only count as one.
Nick Howitt via dovecot skrev den 2025-10-23 18:06:
On 23/10/2025 17:02, Benny Pedersen via dovecot wrote:
Edmund Lodewijks via dovecot skrev den 2025-10-23 11:29:
FWIW, Linux couldn't care less how many consecutive / characters you have in the path. They only count as one.
i helped finding for the OP still imho, i know Linux does not care, but humens should
On 2025/10/23 19:06, Benny Pedersen via dovecot wrote:
Nick Howitt via dovecot skrev den 2025-10-23 18:06:
FWIW, Linux couldn't care less how many consecutive / characters you have in the path. They only count as one.
i helped finding for the OP still imho, i know Linux does not care, but humens should
Thank you all!
I am glad to know that Linux doesn't care. I expected as much. Still, it looks not right.
I will have to dig a bit into how that location comes to be. My guess is that this is a PostfixAdmin thing, which makes it more complicated to do something about it.
Edmund
participants (4)
-
Aki Tuomi
-
Benny Pedersen
-
Edmund Lodewijks
-
Nick Howitt