On 23/08/2025 20:38 EEST Dharma Mati via dovecot <dovecot@dovecot.org> wrote:

I have been trying for weeks to make it work.But I simply cant. Would you plz kindly tell me how it should be? :

doveconf -n

Hi!

Did you notice the example config at https://github.com/dovecot/tools/blob/main/dovecot-2.4.0-example-config.tar.... ? This has usually proven to be useful for migration.

Aki

On 23/08/25, Dharma Mati via dovecot (dovecot@dovecot.org) wrote:

I have been trying for weeks to make it work.But I simply cant. Would you plz kindly tell me how it should be? :

Below is a version of your configuration file that seems to allow Dovecot 2.4 to start, at least.

To make it run with the official Dovecot docker image, I've had to make some changes to paths -- more work is required.

I suggest you grab the configuration setup here: https://github.com/rorycl/dovecot-config/tree/main/migration and add your userdb and passdb files and see if a test Docker run works with that. You can test logins with nc as shown at that "migration" url.

I suggest you read through the upgrade notes at the url below.

Cheers, Rory

for translation of settings, see

https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/installation/upgrade/2.3-to-2.4.html#converted...

https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/core/config/quick.html

dovecot_config_version = 2.4.1 dovecot_storage_version = 2.4.0

enable desired protocols:

protocols { imap = yes lmtp = yes }

ok

auth_mechanisms = cram-md5 plain login

disable_plaintext_auth = no

auth_allow_cleartext = yes

ok; can expand for ipv6

listen = *

listen = *, ::

mail_* confi has changed

mail_location = maildir:/home/vmail/%d/%n/Maildir

examples from example configuration in docker image

mail_driver=maildir mailbox_list_layout=index mailbox_list_utf8=yes mail_path=~/mail

mail_home=/srv/vmail/%{user | lower}

variable naming has changed; here is a go at translating

mail_home=/home/vmail/%{user|domain}/%{user|username}/Maildir mail_utf8_extensions = yes

default login user for Docker ONLY

DO NOT USE IN PRODUCTION

default_internal_user = vmail default_login_user = vmail default_internal_group = vmail

logging for Docker: don't use in production

log_path = /dev/stderr info_log_path = /dev/stderr debug_log_path = /dev/stderr

namespace inbox { inbox = yes

location = ??

mailbox Drafts { # check https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/core/config/namespaces.html#mailbox_special_us... 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 {

args = *

driver = pam

}

Example: authenticate system users:

passdb pam { }

passdb {

args = scheme=CRAM-MD5 username_format=%u /etc/dovecot/users

driver = passwd-file

}

example passdb if pam is not used

passdb user-only { driver = passwd-file auth_username_format=%{user|username|lower} passwd_file_path = /etc/dovecot/users.db }

haven't looked at this

service auth {

unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {

unix_listener /etc/dovecot/socket/example-postfix.sock { # group = postfix group = vmail mode = 0666 # user = postfix user = vmail } }

ssl_cert = </etc/ssl/private/server.crt

ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it

example ssl config

ssl = yes ssl_server { cert_file = /etc/dovecot/certs/server.crt key_file = /etc/dovecot/certs/server.key }

userdb {

driver = passwd

}

userdb {

args = scheme=CRAM-MD5 username_format=%u /etc/dovecot/users

driver = passwd-file

}

userdb {

args = uid=vmail gid=vmail home=/home/vmail/%d/%n

driver = static

}

example userdb

userdb user-only { driver = passwd-file auth_username_format=%{user|username|lower} passwd_file_path = /etc/dovecot/users.db }

https://doc.dovecot.org/2.4.1/core/config/ssl.html#with-client-tls-sni-serve...

local_name example.net { ssl_server_cert_file = /etc/dovecot/certs/example.crt ssl_server_key_file = /etc/dovecot/certs/example.key }

local_name {

ssl_cert = </etc/letsencrypt/live/fullchain.pem

ssl_key = # hidden, use -P to show it

}