[Dovecot] Purging /var/mail/username ?
Dovecot is delivering mail to my ~/.mail directory wonderfully. But /var/mail/michael is growing steadily.
Is it the job of Dovecot to purge this file regularly? Is there a setting somewhere for this?
Thanks, Michael
Michael Hipp schrieb:
Dovecot is delivering mail to my ~/.mail directory wonderfully. But /var/mail/michael is growing steadily.
Something must be delivering there. I'm sure dovecot is not delivering any mail, so it can't be delivering to ~/.mail :) Maybe you need to configure your MTA (exim,postfix,sendmail,....) to deliver to ~/.mail?
Is it the job of Dovecot to purge this file regularly? Is there a setting somewhere for this?
No. You can, however, make dovecot read /var/mail/michael as INBOX and put the other folders in ~/.mail, but personally I recommend against this and suggest changing the delivery agent (MTA, see above; or maybe maildrop, procmail, ...) to deliver to ~/.mail instead.
johannes
Johannes Berg wrote:
Michael Hipp schrieb:
Dovecot is delivering mail to my ~/.mail directory wonderfully. But /var/mail/michael is growing steadily.
Something must be delivering there. I'm sure dovecot is not delivering any mail, so it can't be delivering to ~/.mail :) Maybe you need to configure your MTA (exim,postfix,sendmail,....) to deliver to ~/.mail?
Obviously I'm confused.
I'm using postfix for mta. It has been running since the box was built.
Before I installed Dovecot, I had no ~/mail. (There's no "dot" in it as I mistakenly indicated in my first post). My mail just accumulated in /var/mail/michael and sat there. I activated Dovecot and ~/mail appeared and I could get at it via IMAP. So I assumed Dovecot was reading /var/mail/michael and "delivering" it to ~/mail.
Is this not the case?
So, in normal circumstances, who is responsible for keeping /var/mail from filling up?
Sorry for all the dum-dum questions.
Thank you all, Michael
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On 23-12-2004 16:18, Michael Hipp wrote:
I'm using postfix for mta. It has been running since the box was built.
Before I installed Dovecot, I had no ~/mail. (There's no "dot" in it as I mistakenly indicated in my first post). My mail just accumulated in /var/mail/michael and sat there. I activated Dovecot and ~/mail appeared and I could get at it via IMAP. So I assumed Dovecot was reading /var/mail/michael and "delivering" it to ~/mail.
Is this not the case?
No - ~/mail is for all mailboxes except INBOX, which is stored below /var/mail/ .
So, in normal circumstances, who is responsible for keeping /var/mail from filling up?
Your users.
- Jonas
- Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
- Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
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--On 23 December 2004 09:18 -0600 Michael Hipp Michael@Hipp.com wrote:
| Before I installed Dovecot, I had no ~/mail. (There's no "dot" in it as I | mistakenly indicated in my first post). My mail just accumulated in | /var/mail/michael and sat there. I activated Dovecot and ~/mail appeared | and I could get at it via IMAP. So I assumed Dovecot was reading | /var/mail/michael and "delivering" it to ~/mail.
I think you'll probably find that Dovecot is configured to read /var/mail/michael as INBOX, but any other folders you create using your IMAP client will be under ~/mail. So if you move stuff from your Inbox to other folders, and expunge, you'll be clearing stuff from /var/mail.
-- Rick Jones
Michael Hipp wrote:
Johannes Berg wrote:
I'm using postfix for mta. It has been running since the box was built.
I use Dovecot with Postfix. Mail is delivered, for my users, to ~/.imap To do this, just put into main.cf: home_mailbox = .imap/ or, in your case: home_mailbox = mail/
note: the trailing / means it's in Maildir format. leave it off for mbox
Before I installed Dovecot, I had no ~/mail. (There's no "dot" in it as I mistakenly indicated in my first post). My mail just accumulated in /var/mail/michael and sat there. I activated Dovecot and ~/mail appeared and I could get at it via IMAP. So I assumed Dovecot was reading /var/mail/michael and "delivering" it to ~/mail.
Is this not the case?
As others have mentioned, Dovecot does not deliver mail. It only gives access to mail that's been delivered. Postfix delivers the mail.
So, in normal circumstances, who is responsible for keeping /var/mail from filling up?
I believe someone else already mentioned, you can have your regular IMAP folders in ~/mail, and the INBOX in /var/mail, by setting default_mail_env in the Dovecot config: default_mail_env=mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u This is one of the example options in the default Dovecot config file.
Sorry for all the dum-dum questions.
We all had to start somewhere.
So, either 1) All mail in ~/mail: In Postfix's main.cf, add the line "home_mailbox = mail" ( or mail/ if you want Maildir, not mbox... easier imho) In Dovecot's config, set: default_mail_env=mbox:~/mail ( replace mbox with maildir for ... well, you get the idea :) 2) Inbox in /var/mail, other mail in ~/mail In Dovecot's config, set: default_mail_env=mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u
Now, I believe the 1.0test series can have a mbox format inbox, and Maildir format folders... but I'm not clear on the correct setting for that.
Thank you all, Michael
-- Curtis Maloney cmaloney@cardgate.net
Michael Hipp wrote:
Dovecot is delivering mail to my ~/.mail directory wonderfully.
Dovecot doesn't deliver mail; it serves it up. Your LDA (Local Delivery Agent), part of the MTA (Mail Transport Agent), is responsible for delivery.
But /var/mail/michael is growing steadily.
What MTA are you using (e.g. Postfix, exim, qmail, sendmail)?
John
-- John Peacock Director of Information Research and Technology Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group 4501 Forbes Boulevard Suite H Lanham, MD 20706 301-459-3366 x.5010 fax 301-429-5748
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[sent again - to the list this time]
On 23-12-2004 15:36, Michael Hipp wrote:
Dovecot is delivering mail to my ~/.mail directory wonderfully. But /var/mail/michael is growing steadily.
Is it the job of Dovecot to purge this file regularly? Is there a setting somewhere for this?
Sounds like you are used to the special mbox feature of UW-imap: If the file $HOME/mbox exists, then that is masqueraded as INBOX and when reading it using POP3 or IMAP the content of /var/mail/$user is first transfered to $HOME/mbox.
Dovecot does not support the UW-IMAP mbox feature. Mail below /var/mail is purged when/if the users purge their INBOX.
I like that feature: It makes it possible to do hardquota and if hitting the roof it is at first only user and the local admin knows, instead of emails bouncing right away.
- Jonas
- Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
- Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
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On 23.12.2004, at 17:04, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
Sounds like you are used to the special mbox feature of UW-imap: If the file $HOME/mbox exists, then that is masqueraded as INBOX and when reading it using POP3 or IMAP the content of /var/mail/$user is first transfered to $HOME/mbox.
I like that feature: It makes it possible to do hardquota and if hitting the roof it is at first only user and the local admin knows, instead of emails bouncing right away.
It also makes it possible with small quotas to prevent user from getting any new mail by sending him a large email :)
Although I guess Dovecot could still try moving the other mails.
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On 23-12-2004 17:17, Timo Sirainen wrote:
On 23.12.2004, at 17:04, Jonas Smedegaard wrote:
Sounds like you are used to the special mbox feature of UW-imap: If the file $HOME/mbox exists, then that is masqueraded as INBOX and when reading it using POP3 or IMAP the content of /var/mail/$user is first transfered to $HOME/mbox.
I like that feature: It makes it possible to do hardquota and if hitting the roof it is at first only user and the local admin knows, instead of emails bouncing right away.
It also makes it possible with small quotas to prevent user from getting any new mail by sending him a large email :)
Although I guess Dovecot could still try moving the other mails.
So you are considering? Great :-)
- Jonas
- Jonas Smedegaard - idealist og Internet-arkitekt
- Tlf.: +45 40843136 Website: http://dr.jones.dk/
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participants (7)
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Curtis Maloney
-
Johannes Berg
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John Peacock
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Jonas Smedegaard
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Michael Hipp
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Rick Jones
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Timo Sirainen