imap-sieve, question concerning "sieve_user_email" and variables, migration from 2.3 to 2.4
Hi there,
I have a question concerning the configuration setting
sieve_user_email
In a v2.3 setup I had it set to
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
Now I am trying to migrate to v2.4 and thought the direct translation from the old variable expansion scheme to the new scheme deployed in v2.4 would be
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
However, this does not work. Testing the documentation yields the following error:
dovecot -n -c dovecot.conf > /dev/null
doveconf: Error: sieve: sieve settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand sieve_user_email setting variables: Unknown variable 'user' doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file dovecot.conf: Failed to initialize Sieve
Setting "sieve_user_email" to something without variable expansion or just commenting it out yields a configuration which is accepted by "dovecot -n".
Now I wonder:
a) v2.3 did not complain. But perhaps just because it was using "%Ln" literally?
b) In case it did work in v2.3, should it work in v2.4 also? And if so: what would be the correct syntax / variable names?
c) Under which circumstances is this setting "sieve_user_email" used? The documentation states:
https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/summaries/settings.html#sieve_user_email
The primary e-mail address for the user.
This is used as a default when no other appropriate address is available for sending messages.
If this setting is not configured, either the postmaster or null <> address is used as a sender, depending on the action involved.
This setting is important when there is no message envelope to extract addresses from, such as when the script is executed in IMAP.
I thought that then it would make sense to use something which depends on the login-name of the IMAP-user? Or was this "sieve_user_email" intended to hold just one static email like "my_global_catch_all@some.concrete.domain"?
Kind thanks for clarification, best regards
Claus
-- Claus-Justus Heine himself@claus-justus-heine.de http://www.claus-justus-heine.de/
Schatzmeister der Camerata Academica Freiburg e.V. --- www.cafev.de
I'd like to renew this question in order to make sure that it doesn't get "lost". Does anyone reading this list know if variable substitutions in "sieve_user_email" are supported or even make sense, and how to achieve in >= v2.4 the equivalent of the v2.3 setting
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
?
The attempt to set
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
is not accepted by v2.4.
Kind thanks for any hints, best regards
Claus
Am 10.04.26 um 18:11 schrieb Claus-Justus Heine via dovecot:
Hi there,
I have a question concerning the configuration setting
sieve_user_email
In a v2.3 setup I had it set to
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
Now I am trying to migrate to v2.4 and thought the direct translation from the old variable expansion scheme to the new scheme deployed in v2.4 would be
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
However, this does not work. Testing the documentation yields the following error:
dovecot -n -c dovecot.conf > /dev/null
doveconf: Error: sieve: sieve settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand sieve_user_email setting variables: Unknown variable 'user' doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file dovecot.conf: Failed to initialize Sieve
Setting "sieve_user_email" to something without variable expansion or just commenting it out yields a configuration which is accepted by "dovecot -n".
Now I wonder:
a) v2.3 did not complain. But perhaps just because it was using "%Ln" literally?
b) In case it did work in v2.3, should it work in v2.4 also? And if so: what would be the correct syntax / variable names?
c) Under which circumstances is this setting "sieve_user_email" used? The documentation states:
https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/summaries/settings.html#sieve_user_email
The primary e-mail address for the user.
This is used as a default when no other appropriate address is available for sending messages.
If this setting is not configured, either the postmaster or null <> address is used as a sender, depending on the action involved.
This setting is important when there is no message envelope to extract addresses from, such as when the script is executed in IMAP.
I thought that then it would make sense to use something which depends on the login-name of the IMAP-user? Or was this "sieve_user_email" intended to hold just one static email like "my_global_catch_all@some.concrete.domain"?
Kind thanks for clarification, best regards
Claus
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
-- Claus-Justus Heine himself@claus-justus-heine.de http://www.claus-justus-heine.de/
Schatzmeister der Camerata Academica Freiburg e.V. --- www.cafev.de
This is hopefully now fixed in main. Can you try with
https://github.com/dovecot/core/commit/99e93464cff530a8d67e43a49c7cb3516a2fc...
and for pigeonhole
https://github.com/dovecot/pigeonhole/compare/3af981527518a77c0629c5b9f78d87...
Aki
On 17/04/2026 21:11 EEST Claus-Justus Heine via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
I'd like to renew this question in order to make sure that it doesn't get "lost". Does anyone reading this list know if variable substitutions in "sieve_user_email" are supported or even make sense, and how to achieve in >= v2.4 the equivalent of the v2.3 setting
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
?
The attempt to set
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
is not accepted by v2.4.
Kind thanks for any hints, best regards
Claus
Am 10.04.26 um 18:11 schrieb Claus-Justus Heine via dovecot:
Hi there,
I have a question concerning the configuration setting
sieve_user_email
In a v2.3 setup I had it set to
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
Now I am trying to migrate to v2.4 and thought the direct translation from the old variable expansion scheme to the new scheme deployed in v2.4 would be
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
However, this does not work. Testing the documentation yields the following error:
dovecot -n -c dovecot.conf > /dev/null
doveconf: Error: sieve: sieve settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand sieve_user_email setting variables: Unknown variable 'user' doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file dovecot.conf: Failed to initialize Sieve
Setting "sieve_user_email" to something without variable expansion or just commenting it out yields a configuration which is accepted by "dovecot -n".
Now I wonder:
a) v2.3 did not complain. But perhaps just because it was using "%Ln" literally?
b) In case it did work in v2.3, should it work in v2.4 also? And if so: what would be the correct syntax / variable names?
c) Under which circumstances is this setting "sieve_user_email" used? The documentation states:
https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/summaries/settings.html#sieve_user_email
The primary e-mail address for the user.
This is used as a default when no other appropriate address is available for sending messages.
If this setting is not configured, either the postmaster or null <> address is used as a sender, depending on the action involved.
This setting is important when there is no message envelope to extract addresses from, such as when the script is executed in IMAP.
I thought that then it would make sense to use something which depends on the login-name of the IMAP-user? Or was this "sieve_user_email" intended to hold just one static email like "my_global_catch_all@some.concrete.domain"?
Kind thanks for clarification, best regards
Claus
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
-- Claus-Justus Heine himself@claus-justus-heine.de http://www.claus-justus-heine.de/
Schatzmeister der Camerata Academica Freiburg e.V. --- www.cafev.de
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
Great! Many thanks for looking at this issue, I will have a look!
Claus
Am 14.07.26 um 16:21 schrieb Aki Tuomi via dovecot:
This is hopefully now fixed in main. Can you try with
https://github.com/dovecot/core/commit/99e93464cff530a8d67e43a49c7cb3516a2fc...
and for pigeonhole
https://github.com/dovecot/pigeonhole/compare/3af981527518a77c0629c5b9f78d87...
Aki
On 17/04/2026 21:11 EEST Claus-Justus Heine via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:
I'd like to renew this question in order to make sure that it doesn't get "lost". Does anyone reading this list know if variable substitutions in "sieve_user_email" are supported or even make sense, and how to achieve in >= v2.4 the equivalent of the v2.3 setting
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
?
The attempt to set
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
is not accepted by v2.4.
Kind thanks for any hints, best regards
Claus
Am 10.04.26 um 18:11 schrieb Claus-Justus Heine via dovecot:
Hi there,
I have a question concerning the configuration setting
sieve_user_email
In a v2.3 setup I had it set to
sieve_user_email = %Ln@some.concrete.domain
Now I am trying to migrate to v2.4 and thought the direct translation from the old variable expansion scheme to the new scheme deployed in v2.4 would be
sieve_user_email = %{user|username|lower}@some.concrete.domain
However, this does not work. Testing the documentation yields the following error:
dovecot -n -c dovecot.conf > /dev/null
doveconf: Error: sieve: sieve settings: Failed to parse configuration: Failed to expand sieve_user_email setting variables: Unknown variable 'user' doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file dovecot.conf: Failed to initialize Sieve
Setting "sieve_user_email" to something without variable expansion or just commenting it out yields a configuration which is accepted by "dovecot -n".
Now I wonder:
a) v2.3 did not complain. But perhaps just because it was using "%Ln" literally?
b) In case it did work in v2.3, should it work in v2.4 also? And if so: what would be the correct syntax / variable names?
c) Under which circumstances is this setting "sieve_user_email" used? The documentation states:
https://doc.dovecot.org/main/core/summaries/settings.html#sieve_user_email
The primary e-mail address for the user.
This is used as a default when no other appropriate address is available for sending messages.
If this setting is not configured, either the postmaster or null <> address is used as a sender, depending on the action involved.
This setting is important when there is no message envelope to extract addresses from, such as when the script is executed in IMAP.
I thought that then it would make sense to use something which depends on the login-name of the IMAP-user? Or was this "sieve_user_email" intended to hold just one static email like "my_global_catch_all@some.concrete.domain"?
Kind thanks for clarification, best regards
Claus
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
-- Claus-Justus Heine himself@claus-justus-heine.de http://www.claus-justus-heine.de/
Schatzmeister der Camerata Academica Freiburg e.V. --- www.cafev.de
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org
-- Claus-Justus Heine himself@claus-justus-heine.de http://www.claus-justus-heine.de/
Schatzmeister der Camerata Academica Freiburg e.V. --- www.cafev.de
participants (2)
-
Aki Tuomi
-
Claus-Justus Heine