- dovecot - dovecot.org

Problem email client iPhone ios18.2
by andrzej.milewski＠gmail.com 16 Apr '25

16 Apr '25

Hello, I have a fairly new installation of the Dovecot server version 2.3.19.1 on Debian 12.8. In general, the server works correctly. It sends and receives emails without issues. The clients primarily use Thunderbird on desktops and Gmail on Android. However, some clients are using iPhones with various hardware versions. Those with iOS below version 18 work correctly without any issues. Those who have updated their phones to version 18 and now even 18.2 are experiencing problems with mailbox synchronization. On version 18.2, the issue appears as follows: When you open the app, you can read several messages. They load correctly, but, for instance, attachments do not. If I wait for some time, the attachment eventually loads. During this time, I observe the server logs, and it shows that a certain session on the Dovecot server has ended. Dec 17 13:13:01 iredmail0 dovecot[408]: imap(xxx(a)xxx.com)<44785><1QGZCHcp/+3AqM2O>: Disconnected: Connection closed (UID SEARCH finished 92.295 secs ago) in=2972 out=6076956 deleted=0 expunged=0 trashed=0 hdr_count=0 hdr_bytes=0 body_count=36 body_bytes=6059064 Dec 18 08:40:41 iredmail0 dovecot[408]: imap(xxx(a)xxx.com)<177412>: Disconnected: Connection closed (UID FETCH finished 90.079 secs ago) in=5126 out=1304237 deleted=0 expunged=0 trashed=0 hdr_count=94 hdr_bytes=289688 body_count=89 body_bytes=969615 Dec 18 08:42:19 iredmail0 dovecot[408]: imap(xxx(a)xxx.com)<177410><D5mqU4cpZ+nAqM2O>: Disconnected: Connection closed (UID FETCH finished 95.051 secs ago) in=4475 out=1162785 deleted=0 expunged=0 trashed=0 hdr_count=95 hdr_bytes=281674 body_count=61 body_bytes=839545 Dec 18 08:44:17 iredmail0 dovecot[408]: imap(edyta.kowalewska(a)laktopol.com.pl)<177918>: Disconnected: Connection closed (UID FETCH finished 92.132 secs ago) in=29399 out=30266644 deleted=0 expunged=0 trashed=0 hdr_count=565 hdr_bytes=1726228 body_count=628 body_bytes=28109455 After the session is closed, the attachment loads immediately. From the logs and router analysis, it appears that the download happens in another previously opened session. After this incident, I go to another message with an attachment, and the situation repeats. There are also situations where the email body does not load, and the app waits for the server until the session closes and the content is fetched in another session. It does not matter whether I connect to the server via the internet or through a local network. On an iPhone 7 with iOS 15.8.3, everything works smoothly. Attachments open without issues. On iOS 18.1.1, attachments do not load, and the session does not close on its own. It takes forever unless the app is closed. In the Gmail app, everything works correctly without any issues. This is clearly a problem with the mail client on iPhone. However, is there anything I can adjust in my server settings to mitigate this issue for users? My dovecot configuration https://pastebin.com/UPNQ5dZz

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Dovecot24 - passdb configuration syntax
by Juergen Edner 15 Apr '25

15 Apr '25

Hello, as Dovecot 2.4.1 has been published, I started investigation how I need to modify my existing Dovecot 2.3.x configuration, which worked flawlessly the last 5 years. With the help of the doveconf tool I've identified the parameters which need to be modified and I got rid of the error message at the end. Nevertheless, not getting any errors displayed, does not automatically mean, that it has correctly been configured. Here is the initial auth configuration and hopefully the right 2.4 version: Dovecot23: disable_plaintext_auth = yes auth_username_format = %Lu auth_mechanisms = plain login cram-md5 passdb { driver = passwd-file args = username_format=%Lu /path/to/aliases-file } passdb { driver = passwd-file args = scheme=cram-md5 /path/to/cram-md5-file } userdb { driver = passwd } Dovecot24: auth_allow_cleartext = no auth_username_format = %{user | lower} auth_mechanisms = plain login cram-md5 passdb aliases-file { passwd_file_path = /path/to/aliases-file } passdb md5-file { passwd_file_path = /path/to/cram-md5-file } userdb passwd-file { passwd_file_path = /etc/passwd } Here are my questions: - The first passdb configuration (aliases file) initially contained the "args = username_format=%Lu ..." option. Do I still need to convert this to a dedicated "auth_username_format = %{user | lower}" line or is this already covered by the global "auth_username_format" setting? - The second passdb configuration (cram-md5 file) initially contained the "args = scheme=cram-md5 ..." option. I couldn't find any replacement for it. Does this mean the only alternative would be to prefix all passwords in the password file with "{CRAM-MD5}"? - For the third userdb configuration (passwd file) I made use of the "passwd_file_path" parameter. Is this a valid replacement for the original "driver = passwd" entry or have I forgotten anything? BTW, I was curious if ChatGPT could do the job faster than me, but I can say "not yet". It made several errors and had to be corrected one by one but that might change in the future if more and more people are asking for support on this topic. Thanks Juergen -- Mail: juergen(a)eisfair.org

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Stats-writer permission denied
by Ken Wright 15 Apr '25

15 Apr '25

I've got a new Dovecot error (well, new to me, at least)! I ran tail /var/log/mail.err and got the following: net_connect_unix(/var/run/dovecot/stats-writer) failed: Permission denied I checked the file, and it's owned by www-data and the www-data group, with read and write permissions for owner and group... just like I have specified in /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf. I can't understand why permission is denied when the file permissions appear to be correct. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Ubuntu 20.04 Dovecot 2.3.7.2 Ken

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Sieve fails to find existing folder?
by Alexander Skwar 15 Apr '25

15 Apr '25

Hello I've got issues using filters. Although a filter matches a message, the message remains in the INBOX. In the log file a(a)skwar.xyz.sieve.log, I find this: sieve: info: started log at 2025-04-14 18:15:31 +0200. error: msgid=<1051036477.1870592.1744647326637(a)mail.yahoo.com>: fileinto action: failed to store into mailbox '🎗 Social Networks/🏔🚴 Draussen': Mailbox doesn't exist: 🎗 Social Networks/🏔🚴 Draussen. Yes, the folders are **really** named "🎗 Social Networks" and "🏔🚴 Draussen" 😜 I like emojis, makes it easier for me to find things again 🙂 The filter rule for this is: require ["regex","imap4flags","fileinto"]; if anyof (address :regex :comparator "i;octet" "from" ".*@(yahoo\\.com|bergportal\\.ch|freezetag\\.com|garmin\\.com|geocaching\\.com|komoot\\.de|munzee\\.com|quaeldich\\.de|spontacts\\.com|squadrats\\.com|strava\\.com|update\\.strava\\.com|velocity\\.ch|wandrer\\.earth)$", address :regex :comparator "i;octet" ["to", "cc"] "hiking-buddies@acc\\.alexs77\\.rodeo|carving\\.fleshed313@alexs77\\.foobar\\.vip|com\\+wandrer\\.earth@skwar\\.me|squadrats\\.com@acc\\.alexs77\\.rodeo", address :regex :comparator "i;octet" "from" "hikingbuddiesteam(a)gmail.com|email.meetup.com") { fileinto "🎗 Social Networks/🏔🚴 Draussen"; stop; } In this case, it matches on "<whatever>@yahoo.com". Why did it not find the folder? I created the folder and rule in SOGo 5.12.0 from mailcow 2025-03b. bd36093fccaa:/var/vmail/sieve# dovecot --version 2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0) Should the Emojis somehow be encoded, so that the filter would work? Cheers, Alexander

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shared folders in dovecot
by Anton Shevtsov 15 Apr '25

15 Apr '25

I used dovecot without shared folders some time ago. All work fine. old dovecot config: |mail_home=/var/mail/%d/%n mail_location = maildir:/var/mail/%d/%n:UTF-8:INBOX=/var/mail/%d/%n/Inbox |mail_plugins = acl |protocol imap { mail_plugins = $mail_plugins } | All work fine. Now I want to add shared folder functionality. I am defining namespaces and doing it wrong (maybe) new dovecot config: |mail_home=/var/mail/%d/%n mail_location = maildir:/var/mail/%d/%n:UTF-8:INBOX=/var/mail/%d/%n/Inbox |mail_plugins = acl |mail_debug=yes namespace inbox { type = private separator = / prefix = inbox = yes } namespace { type = shared separator = / prefix = shared/%%u/ # wrong #location = maildir:%%h/Maildir:INDEX=~/Maildir/shared/%%u:INDEXPVT=~/Maildir/shared/%%u |# wrong again location = maildir:%%h/:INDEX=~/%%u |subscriptions = no list = children } protocol imap { mail_plugins = $mail_plugins imap_acl acl } plugin { acl = vfile acl_shared_dict = file:/var/mail/%d/shared-mailboxes.db } | I can set access right for shared folder (screenshot - https://ibb.co/ccxQ63wN) but i can not see shared folder in subscriptions (screenshot - https://ibb.co/PRfpD7X) -- *Anton* I used dovecot without shared folders some time ago. All work fine. old dovecot config: mail_home=/var/mail/%d/%n mail_location = maildir:/var/mail/%d/%n:UTF-8:INBOX=/var/mail/%d/%n/Inbox mail_plugins = acl protocol imap { mail_plugins = $mail_plugins } All work fine. Now I want to add shared folder functionality. I am defining namespaces and doing it wrong (maybe) new dovecot config: mail_home=/var/mail/%d/%n mail_location = maildir:/var/mail/%d/%n:UTF-8:INBOX=/var/mail/%d/%n/Inbox mail_plugins = acl mail_debug=yes namespace inbox { type = private separator = / prefix = inbox = yes } namespace { type = shared separator = / prefix = shared/%%u/ # wrong #location = maildir:%%h/Maildir:INDEX=~/Maildir/shared/%%u:INDEXPVT=~/ Maildir/shared/%%u # wrong again location = maildir:%%h/:INDEX=~/%%u subscriptions = no list = children } protocol imap { mail_plugins = $mail_plugins imap_acl acl } plugin { acl = vfile acl_shared_dict = file:/var/mail/%d/shared-mailboxes.db } I can set access right for shared folder (screenshot - https://ibb.co/ccxQ63wN) but i can not see shared folder in subscriptions (screenshot - https://ibb.co/ PRfpD7X) -- Anton

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Reindex all e-mails for FTS?
by Alexander Skwar 14 Apr '25

14 Apr '25

Hello How do I reindex all e-mails (for a user or for all users) for FTS? Seems I can find new emails, but not old ones. I tried this: askwar@mail /o/mailcow-dockerized> time sudo docker compose exec dovecot-mailcow doveadm index -A '*' ________________________________________________________ Executed in 1.73 secs fish external usr time 0.00 millis 0.00 millis 0.00 millis sys time 12.90 millis 1.08 millis 11.83 millis As you can see, this was very fast — should it be…? I'd like to be able to search for a text which is in attachments and then I'd need to be able to find the email. This works fine for new emails, but not for old ones. To verify that the attachment would be readable by tika, I took an old e-mail, saved the PDF attachment, and then mailed it to me. Searching for the e-mail will find the new e-mail, but not the old one. The mailbox is not exactly small: askwar@mail /o/mailcow-dockerized> sudo docker compose exec dovecot-mailcow doveadm quota get -u a(a)skwar.xyz Quota name Type Value Limit % Userquota STORAGE 34908222 61685760 56 Userquota MESSAGE 458837 - 0 bd36093fccaa:/# du -sh /var/vmail_index/a\(a)skwar.xyz/ /var/vmail/skwar.xyz/a 2.4G /var/vmail_index/a(a)skwar.xyz/ 27G /var/vmail/skwar.xyz/a I've enabled full text search fts in dovecot with these settings: plugin { fts_autoindex = yes fts_autoindex_exclude = \Junk fts_autoindex_exclude2 = \Trash fts = flatcurve fts_tika = http://tika:9998/tika fts_tokenizer_email_address = maxlen=100 fts_tokenizer_generic = algorithm=simple maxlen=30 fts_languages = en es de fts_tokenizers = generic email-address fts_filters = normalizer-icu snowball stopwords fts_filters_en = lowercase snowball english-possessive stopwords fts_index_timeout = 300s } askwar@mail /o/mailcow-dockerized> docker --version Docker version 27.3.1, build ce12230 askwar@mail /o/mailcow-dockerized> sudo docker compose exec dovecot-mailcow dovecot --version 2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0) Thanks, Alexander

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Compile failure on git head : lib-settings/settings-history-core.h
by Genes Lists 14 Apr '25

14 Apr '25

Summary: -------- Our daily test builds of git head started failing on Archlinux using gcc 14.2.1+r753+g1cd744a6828f-1 Compile error occurs on git HEAD branch main: commit : beca41cc94dbc81cb2586aab311762bde39bdb11 Possible relevant commit: ------------------------ commit 9dca2f961f83a071d2ff516cd332cd4aa88484dd Build Error: ------------ ... CCLD test-dns-util make[3]: Leaving directory '.. /src/core/src/lib-dns' Making all in lib-settings make[3]: Entering directory '.. /src/lib-settings' GEN settings-history-core.h Line 3: Invalid version sort order make[3]: *** [Makefile:897: settings-history-core.h] Error 1 Thanks for any help. gene (more detail below) config / build details: ---------------------- git fetch --all; git pull git clean -fdx ./autogen.sh ./configure \ --enable-maintainer-mode \ --prefix=/usr \ --sbindir=/usr/bin \ --sysconfdir=/etc \ --localstatedir=/var \ --libexecdir=/usr/lib \ --with-rundir=/run/dovecot \ --with-moduledir=/usr/lib/dovecot/modules \ --disable-static \ --with-pam \ --with-sqlite \ --with-pgsql \ --with-mysql \ --with-ssldir=/etc/ssl \ --with-gssapi \ --with-ldap=yes \ --with-lua=plugin \ --with-bzlib \ --with-lz4 \ --with-zstd \ --with-solr \ --with-sodium \ --with-libcap \ --enable-experimental-mail-utf8 \ --enable-experimental-imap4rev2 Install prefix . : /usr File offsets ... : 64bit I/O polling .... : epoll I/O notifys .... : inotify SSL ............ : openssl GSSAPI ......... : yes passdbs ........ : static lua (plugin) passwd passwd-file pam ldap sql : -bsdauth userdbs ........ : static lua (plugin) prefetch passwd passwd-file ldap sql CFLAGS ......... : -std=gnu11 -g -O2 -fstack-protector-strong - U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 -mfunction-return=keep -mindirect- branch=keep -Wall -W -Wmissing-prototypes -Wmissing-declarations - Wpointer-arith -Wchar-subscripts -Wformat=2 -Wbad-function-cast -fno- builtin-strftime -Wstrict-aliasing=2 SYSTEMD ........ : notify - /usr/lib/systemd/system/dovecot.service SQL drivers .... : pgsql mysql sqlite : -cassandra Full text search : solr make clean make -- Gene

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email-address Tokenizer Splits Hyphenated Local-Parts, Causing Inaccurate FTS Search Results
by Daniel 11 Apr '25

11 Apr '25

I’m using Dovecot FTS with the flatcurve backend in a mailcow: dockerized setup. When searching for an email address with a hyphenated local-part (e.g., ma-g(a)example.com) the email-address tokenizer splits the local-part on hyphens, producing tokens like ma, g, and ma-g(a)example.com. This prevents searching for ma-g as a single term. With fts_flatcurve_substring_search = yes, searching for ma-g matches unrelated addresses containing ma (e.g., manager(a)example.com) leading to irrelevant results. Dovecot version: 2.3.21.1 (d492236fa0) Including only relevant part of dovecot config: plugin { fts = flatcurve fts_autoindex = yes fts_autoindex_exclude = \Junk fts_autoindex_exclude2 = \Trash fts_autoindex_max_recent_msgs = 999999 fts_tokenizers = generic email-address fts_tokenizer_email_address = maxlen=100 fts_tokenizer_generic = algorithm=simple maxlen=100 fts_flatcurve_substring_search = yes fts_languages = en es de ru fts_filters = normalizer-icu snowball stopwords fts_filters_en = lowercase snowball english-possessive stopwords fts_filters_ru = lowercase snowball stopwords fts_index_timeout = 300s } service indexer-worker { process_limit = 12 vsz_limit = 512 MB } Steps to Reproduce: Index an email with ma-g(a)example.com in the From field also index email contains "ma" and "g" in the From field. Check tokenization: doveadm fts tokenize -u user(a)example.com "ma-g(a)example.com" Output: ma g example com ma-g(a)example.com Search: doveadm search -u user(a)example.com FROM ma-g Results include manager(a)example.com due to ma matching. Expected Behavior: FROM ma-g should match only emails with ma-g(a)example.com, treating ma-g as a single term or exact local-part. Expected tokens: doveadm fts tokenize -u user(a)example.com "ma-g(a)example.com" Output: ma-g ma g example com ma-g(a)example.com Actual Behavior: The tokenizer splits ma-g into ma and g. Substring search matches "ma" or "g" in unrelated addresses (e.g., manager(a)example.com, greg(a)example.com) Without substring search, ma-g matches nothing unless searching the full address. Impact: Searching hyphenated local-parts for short email address local-parts is unreliable, especially for common fragments like ma, flooding results with irrelevant matches. Request: Add a configuration option, such as "fts_tokenizer_email_address_keep_hyphenated = yes|no" (default: no, for compatibility), to include the hyphenated local-part of an email address as an additional token. For example, with "yes", tokenizing "ma-g(a)example.com" would produce "ma-g", "ma", "g", "example", "com", and "ma-g(a)example.com". This allows searches for "FROM ma-g" to match emails with "ma-g(a)example.com" exactly, while preserving "ma" and "g" for substring searches. Consider "yes" as a future default, as including hyphenated local-parts aligns with RFC 5322 and user expectations for precise email searches, especially for common hyphenated addresses like "first-last(a)domain.com". If changing defaults, provide upgrade notes for users relying on the current token set. Is there any workaround to search hyphenated local-parts accurately? Best regards, Daniel Levin

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Enable Full-Text search for attachments?
by Alexander Skwar 10 Apr '25

10 Apr '25

Hello Is it possible to enable a full-text search (FTS) for attachments (PDF, Text, Docx, …) using the open source dovecot server? If so, how would I do that? I've read https://doc.dovecot.org/2.3/configuration_manual/fts/ but that wasn't clear to me. Thanks, Alexander

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2.4.1: oauth2 - Error: lua: db-lua: 'auth_passdb_lookup' is not a function
by Luigi Trovato 10 Apr '25

10 Apr '25

Hello, I just upgraded 2.4.0 to 2.4.1 and when trying to authenticate with oauth2 I have this error: auth-worker(lonestar(a)lonestar.it,127.0.0.1)<28029><vtg3yW0yBNh/AAAB>: request [11]: Error: lua: db-lua: 'auth_passdb_lookup' is not a function imap-login: Info: Logged in: user=<lonestar(a)lonestar.it>, method=XOAUTH2, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1, mpid=28281, secured, session=<vtg3yW0yBNh/AAAB> I actually don't have any auth_passdb_lookup defined in the lua script, only auth_password_verify and auth_userdb_lookup, but it was previously working without errors -- Ciao, Luigi Hello, I just upgraded 2.4.0 to 2.4.1 and when trying to authenticate with oauth2 I have this error: auth-worker(lonestar(a)lonestar.it,127.0.0.1)<28029><vtg3yW0yBNh/AAAB>: request [11]: Error: lua: db-lua: 'auth_passdb_lookup' is not a function imap-login: Info: Logged in: user=<lonestar(a)lonestar.it>, method=XOAUTH2, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1, mpid=28281, secured, session=<vtg3yW0yBNh/AAAB> I actually don't have any auth_passdb_lookup defined in the lua script, only auth_password_verify and auth_userdb_lookup, but it was previously working without errors -- Ciao, Luigi

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