I have:

• Ubuntu 17.04

• Dovecot 2.2.27 (c0f36b0)

• Postfix 3.1.4

• regular unix users with mail in /home/bob/Maildir

• virtual users with mail in /var/mail/vhosts/domain.com/bob/

The regular users can receive mail as expected. When virtual users try to log in, it fails. The log shows an error like this:

2017-09-14 22:44:55 auth: Error: passwd-file(travler@travler.net,54.210.254.169,<EYwzYDFZWoY20v6p>): stat(/var/mail/vhosts/travler.net/shadow) failed: Permission denied (euid=114(dovecot) egid=121(dovecot) missing +x perm: /var/mail/vhosts, we're not in group 5000(vmail), dir owned by 5000:5000 mode=0750)

A previous user had a similar problem in 2015: https://dovecot.org/list/dovecot/2015-July/101469.html

He was advised to look at https://wiki2.dovecot.org/UserIds … without being given more specific advice. I looked at the page. I tried adding mail_uid and mail_gid. No luck.

In my case, I see: # sudo -u dovecot groups dovecot vmail

# sudo -u dovecot cat /var/mail/vhosts/travler.net/shadow <file contents>

I have a vmail user: # id vmail uid=5000(vmail) gid=5000(vmail) groups=5000(vmail)

# ls -la /var/mail/vhosts total 0 drwxr-s--- 1 vmail vmail 246 Jun 30 11:23 . drwxrwsrwt 1 mail mail 26 Dec 5 2016 .. drwxr-s--- 1 vmail vmail 66 Sep 14 23:11 travler.net

# ls -l /var/mail/vhosts/travler.net/ total 8 -rwxr-s--- 1 vmail vmail 174 Dec 5 2016 passwd -rwxr-s--- 1 vmail vmail 173 Dec 5 2016 shadow drwxr-s--- 1 vmail vmail 450 Sep 9 13:16 travis.belmont drwxr-s--- 1 vmail vmail 750 Sep 13 14:14 travler

I've set mail_gid and mail_uid # doveconf -n|grep id mail_gid = 5000 mail_uid = 5000

Here's my full config: # doveconf -n # 2.2.27 (c0f36b0): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # Pigeonhole version 0.4.16 (fed8554) # OS: Linux 4.10.0-33-generic x86_64 Ubuntu 17.04 btrfs log_path = /var/log/dovecot log_timestamp = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S " mail_gid = 5000 mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir mail_privileged_group = mail mail_uid = 5000 namespace inbox { inbox = yes location = mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } mailbox Trash { special_use = \Trash } prefix = } passdb { driver = pam } passdb { args = username_format=%n /var/mail/vhosts/%d/shadow driver = passwd-file } plugin { sieve = file:~/sieve;active=~/.dovecot.sieve } protocols = " imap" service auth { unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { mode = 0666 } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { port = 0 } } ssl_cert = [snip] ssl_cipher_list = [snip] ssl_dh_parameters_length = 2048 ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_protocols = !SSLv3 !SSLv2 userdb { driver = passwd } userdb { args = username_format=%n /var/mail/vhosts/%d/passwd driver = passwd-file }

What do I need to set to get dovecot to run as vmail / fix this error?

Paul