On 7/9/2023 4:58 AM, Markus Winkler wrote:

Hi Joe,

On 09.07.23 00:53, joe a wrote:

...

Is it possible to setup shared folders between virtual users on the same server?

yes it is - here's the starting point within the documentation:

https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/shared_mailboxes/

Regards, Markus

---

dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org

My attempts thus far seem without results.

What should I expect to see, if anything, in each account for a successful "share"? Sadly, I see no apparent change in the displayed folder structure using Thunderbird (most recent AFAICT).

I created and can see, in the folder structure of "user a" a symlink to "user b", but see no apparent difference in either account, after exit and restart of Thunderbird.

Restart of dovecot was also done.

To be a bit more explicit (hopefully) There is a symlink in "/home/vmail/usera/Maildir/.Cabinet.folder_name" to "/home/vmail/userb/Maildir/.Cabinet.name_2_share_as", both owned by vmail:vmail, do at first thought, I should not have to fiddle with file system rights. Wrong?

joe a.

On 7/9/2023 1:19 PM, joe a wrote:

On 7/9/2023 4:58 AM, Markus Winkler wrote:

...

Hi Joe,

On 09.07.23 00:53, joe a wrote:

...

Is it possible to setup shared folders between virtual users on the same server?

yes it is - here's the starting point within the documentation:

https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/shared_mailboxes/

Regards, Markus

---

dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org

My attempts thus far seem without results.

What should I expect to see, if anything, in each account for a successful "share"?  Sadly, I see no apparent change in the displayed folder structure using Thunderbird (most recent AFAICT).

I created and can see, in the folder structure of "user a" a symlink to "user b", but see no apparent difference in either account, after exit and restart of Thunderbird.

Restart of dovecot was also done.

To be a bit more explicit (hopefully) There is a symlink in "/home/vmail/usera/Maildir/.Cabinet.folder_name" to "/home/vmail/userb/Maildir/.Cabinet.name_2_share_as", both owned by vmail:vmail, do at first thought, I should not have to fiddle with file system rights.  Wrong?

joe a.

---

dovecot mailing list -- dovecot@dovecot.org To unsubscribe send an email to dovecot-leave@dovecot.org

I am only just starting to use Dovecot as well as Thunderbird as replacements for a legacy system, so am still at the "beginner" stage with both, so my queries may seem inane to some.

Bearing that in mind, it seems "shared folders" may not be possible in the sense/context I am familiar with, at least the way I have been attempting it.

Found the Thunderbird client has a "sharing" option for folders yet states "This server does not support shared folders"

So, is "folder sharing" something that has actually been done with Dovecot/Thunderbird? If so, suggestions on where I may have gone wrong?

Am Montag, dem 10.07.2023 um 10:10 -0400 schrieb joe a:

I am only just starting to use Dovecot as well as Thunderbird as replacements for a legacy system, so am still at the "beginner" stage with both, so my queries may seem inane to some.

Bearing that in mind, it seems "shared folders" may not be possible in the sense/context I am familiar with, at least the way I have been attempting it.

Found the Thunderbird client has a "sharing" option for folders yet states "This server does not support shared folders"

So, is "folder sharing" something that has actually been done with Dovecot/Thunderbird?  If so, suggestions on where I may have gone wrong?

This page may help you: https://doc.dovecot.org/configuration_manual/shared_mailboxes/

As you see, "Symlinking mailboxes" (what you did as far as I understand) is just a quick and dirty hack. I never tried that, but I would expect that Thunderbird (and other MUAs) will treat a symlinked folder just like any other folder in the mailbox. You may need to subscribe this symlinked folder explicitely. If you only have virtual users, filesystem rights should not be a problem.

What Thunderbird expects as "sharing" is what is described on the "Mailbox sharing between users" link in the linked page above. Thunderbird will deal with it and display information about the status of a local or shared folder in it's "Sharing" tab. Mailbox sharing must be enabled in dovecot, following instructions in this link.

Enabling mailbox sharing involves namespaces and acls. It's a bit tricky, but can be done even by unexperiences users (like me). If it's enabled, sharing a mailbox owned by user1 to user2 must be done with doveadm on the dovecot machine. There are plenty of how-to pages in the web how to do this.

Afaik, it should be possible to share a folder to someone else in a MUA like Thunderbird via IMAP commands. I don't know about any MUA that supports this, Thunderbird does not, Roundcube does not...

Robert

-- Robert Senger

On 7/9/23 13:19, joe a wrote:

My attempts thus far seem without results.

What should I expect to see, if anything, in each account for a successful "share"?  Sadly, I see no apparent change in the displayed folder structure using Thunderbird (most recent AFAICT).

You should maybe check the subscriptions in Thunderbird client. Just a thought, I haven't tried shared folders, but that is the usual issue with missing folders.

-- Anthony Carrico