...

• kernel root@stoat:/# uname -a Linux stoat.aluminati.org 2.6.24-23-server #1 SMP Mon Jan 26 01:36:05 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

...

• the output of "dovecot --build-options" This is from the current 1.1.18 install, but 1.2 was compiled with the same configuration options, so they should be the same? root@stoat:/# dovecot --build-options Build options: ioloop=epoll notify=inotify ipv6 openssl Mail storages: maildir SQL drivers: mysql Passdb: checkpassword passwd passwd-file shadow sql Userdb: nss passwd passwd-file prefetch sql static

Strange...

You could try to upgrade your kernel. I had some trouble with <=2.6.28
and the inotify API

http://lkml.org/lkml/2008/12/15/83

Regards

-- Guillaume Plessis