Hello, We are seeing lots of errors like this in the logs:

"dovecot: imap(user@domain)<31219><Dly3bTyt4tesENjH>: Error: autoexpunge: Couldn't create dovecot.autoexpunge.lock lock: file_create_locked(/home/virtual/domain/user/dovecot.autoexpunge.lock) failed: fstat(/home/virtual/domain/user/dovecot.autoexpunge.lock) failed: Stale file handle"

We don't understand why Dovecot is trying to create the dovecot.autoexpunge.lock file in the mail home directory instead of mail location directory. For some accounts, the dovecot.autoexpunge.lock file is correctly created inside the mail home directory.

Any ideas on what could be causing this behavior?

# doveadm user user@domain field value uid 150 gid 8 home /home/virtual/domain/user mail maildir:~/Maildir quota_rule *:bytes=8192000000

# doveconf -n # 2.3.21.1 # Pigeonhole version 0.5.21.1 # OS: Linux 6.1.0-29-amd64 x86_64 Debian 12.9

auth_cache_verify_password_with_worker = yes auth_mechanisms = plain login auth_verbose = yes auth_worker_max_count = 256 default_client_limit = 10000 default_process_limit = 10000 default_vsz_limit = 1 G dict { lastlogin = mysql:/etc/dovecot/mysql/dovecot-dict-lastlogin.conf quotadict = mysql:/etc/dovecot/mysql/dovecot-dict-quota.conf } disable_plaintext_auth = no first_valid_uid = 100 imap_hibernate_timeout = 30 secs log_timestamp = "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S " login_log_format_elements = user=<%u> method=%m rip=%r lip=%l pid=%p %c login_trusted_networks = mail_fsync = always mail_gid = 8 mail_home = /home/virtual/%d/%n mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir mail_nfs_index = yes mail_nfs_storage = yes mail_plugins = zlib quota mail_log notify mail_privileged_group = mail mail_uid = 150 maildir_stat_dirs = yes managesieve_notify_capability = mailto managesieve_sieve_capability = fileinto reject envelope encoded-character vacation subaddress comparator-i;ascii-numeric relational regex imap4flags copy include variables body enotify environment mailbox date ihave metric imap_command { filter = event=imap_command_finished AND tagged_reply_state=OK group_by = cmd_name } metric imap_select_no { filter = event=imap_command_finished AND cmd_name=SELECT AND tagged_reply_state=NO } metric imap_select_no_notfound { filter = event=imap_command_finished AND cmd_name=SELECT AND tagged_reply="NO*Mailbox doesn't exist:*" } metric storage_http_gets { filter = event=http_request_finished AND category=storage AND method=get } mmap_disable = yes namespace inbox { inbox = yes location = mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Sent { auto = subscribe special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } mailbox Spam { auto = subscribe autoexpunge = 30 days special_use = \Junk } mailbox Trash { auto = subscribe autoexpunge = 60 days special_use = \Trash } mailbox virtual/All { special_use = \All } prefix = } passdb { args = /etc/dovecot/mysql/dovecot-sql.conf driver = sql } plugin { last_login_dict = proxy::lastlogin last_login_key = # hidden, use -P to show it mail_log_events = delete undelete expunge copy mailbox_delete mailbox_rename mail_log_fields = uid box msgid size quota = dict:user::proxy::quotadict quota_rule2 = Trash:ignore quota_rule3 = Spam:ignore quota_status_nouser = DUNNO quota_status_overquota = 552 5.2.2 The email account that you tried to reach is over quota quota_status_success = DUNNO quota_warning = storage=95%% quota-warning 95 %u quota_warning2 = storage=80%% quota-warning 80 %u sieve = ~/.dovecot.sieve sieve_before = /etc/dovecot/sieve/default.sieve sieve_dir = ~/sieve sieve_vacation_send_from_recipient = yes trash = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-trash.conf zlib_save = gz zlib_save_level = 6 } protocols = imap sieve pop3 lmtp service anvil { client_limit = 50000 unix_listener anvil-auth-penalty { mode = 00 } } service auth { client_limit = 50000 unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth { group = postfix mode = 0660 user = postfix } unix_listener auth-master { group = mail mode = 0660 user = vmail } user = root vsz_limit = 1 G } service dict { unix_listener dict { mode = 0660 user = vmail } } service imap-hibernate { unix_listener imap-hibernate { group = $default_internal_group mode = 0660 user = vmail } } service imap-login { inet_listener imap { address = * port = 143 } inet_listener imaps { address = * port = 993 } process_min_avail = 1 service_count = 0 } service imap { extra_groups = $default_internal_group process_min_avail = 16 unix_listener imap-master { user = $default_internal_user } vsz_limit = 2 G } service lmtp { process_min_avail = 16 unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/dovecot-lmtp { group = postfix mode = 0600 user = postfix } vsz_limit = 1 G } service managesieve-login { inet_listener sieve { port = 4190 } process_min_avail = 16 service_count = 1 } service managesieve { vsz_limit = 1 G } service pop3-login { inet_listener pop3 { address = * port = 110 } inet_listener pop3s { address = * port = 995 } process_min_avail = 16 service_count = 1 } service pop3 { process_min_avail = 16 vsz_limit = 1 G } service quota-status { executable = /usr/lib/dovecot/quota-status -p postfix process_min_avail = 16 unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/quota-status { group = postfix mode = 0666 user = postfix } } service quota-warning { executable = script /usr/local/bin/quota-warning.sh unix_listener quota-warning { mode = 0660 user = vmail } user = vmail } service stats { unix_listener stats-reader { mode = 0660 user = vmail } unix_listener stats-writer { mode = 0666 user = vmail } } ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/ssl/cert.pem ssl_dh = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it ssl_min_protocol = TLSv1 userdb { args = /etc/dovecot/mysql/dovecot-sql.conf driver = sql } verbose_proctitle = yes protocol imap { imap_max_line_length = 64 k mail_max_userip_connections = 16 mail_plugins = zlib quota mail_log notify trash imap_quota } protocol pop3 { mail_max_userip_connections = 10 mail_plugins = zlib quota mail_log notify pop3_client_workarounds = outlook-no-nuls oe-ns-eoh pop3_fast_size_lookups = yes pop3_no_flag_updates = yes pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv } protocol sieve { mail_max_userip_connections = 10 managesieve_max_compile_errors = 5 } protocol lda { auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master mail_plugins = zlib quota mail_log notify sieve sendmail_path = /usr/lib/sendmail syslog_facility = mail } protocol lmtp { mail_plugins = zlib quota mail_log notify sieve syslog_facility = mail }