On 19/01/2026 15:01, dovecot--- via dovecot wrote:

i have in my dovecot.conf:

default_login_user = www

when i start dovecot:

Starting mail server ...doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf: default_login_user doesn't exist: dovenull

after adding dovenull user to /etc/passwd _AND_ leaving "default_login_user = www" in the dovecot.conf file everything is working fine. With 2.3.x user www worked.

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My suggestion is to recheck your configuration for syntax errors in specifying the default_login_user or for multiple definitions of the same parameter. In any case, from a security perspective dovenull (a user that has a nologin shell and minimal access to other resources) seems like a good choice, rather than assigning this to an existing user that has other permissions.

John