- dovecot - dovecot.org

[Dovecot] Dovecot as a POP3-/POP3SSL-proxy in front of exchange 2003
by south africa 17 Mar '09

17 Mar '09

Dear all, im looking for a solution to protect an Exchange 2003 email server from direct "pop3-internet-connects". Is it possible that Dovecot act as a POP3-/POP3SSL-Proxy, "LDAP-authenticate" all user logins to a Windows 2003 domain controller and forward then all POP3-connects to a single Exchange 2003 server? Could someone give me some advices or a link for howtos for this solution? The howto on www.dovcot.org (http://wiki.dovecot.org/HowTo/ImapProxy) does not fit in my situation because it prefere a mysql server and not a LDAP-server/domain-controller. Greetings Paul _____________________________________________________________ Get your FREE TheDoghouseMail email address at http://www.thedoghousemail.com

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[Dovecot] Errors on mbox to Maildir conversion
by Phill Edwards 17 Mar '09

17 Mar '09

I have Julian Fitzell's migrateuser.sh script which uses mb2md-3.20.pl to convert a mailbox in mbox format to Maildir. I have set up a test user called "mailtest" which has mail as follows: /var/mail/mailtest /home/mailtest/mail/ Drafts MoreStuff Sent Items Stuff After the conversion I want all this user's mail to be in /home/mailtest/Maildir/ I'm not quite sure how to run the migrateuser.sh script, but I think it's like this (run as user mailtest): $ /usr/local/bin/mb2md/migrateuser.sh mailtest /home/mailtest /home/mailtest/Maildir When I run this I get the following output: mailtest -- Migrating INBOX... Converting /var/mail/mailtest to maildir: /home/mailtest/Maildir.mdwork.1237291760 Source Mbox is /var/mail/mailtest Target Maildir is /home/mailtest/Maildir.mdwork.1237291760 Created UID list: /home/mailtest/Maildir.mdwork.1237291760/dovecot-uidlist 3 messages. warning: Can't open /home/mailtest/Maildir.mdwork.1237291760: not a selectable mailbox [ERROR] (mismatch during post compare) mailtest -- 0 new message(s) (), 3 total mailtest -- That bit about "not a selectable mailbox" seems to be the problem. Any idea what I'm doing wrong here? Regards, Phill

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[Dovecot] How to use DoveCot with checkpassword
by Muhammed Alat 17 Mar '09

17 Mar '09

Hi, im a newbee using dovecot. I want to use checkpassword, but i've no idea how to use it. DoveCot is running and checking the passwords with a ldap server. But in future we want to use a sql database, where the password and userinformation is stored. I want to use checkpassword, to authetificate the users with the passwords. But ive no idea how a script for checkpassword can be. What should i write to the checkpassword file (actualy the file is empty). The SQL Database is on another server. Can i use PHP for checkpassword, and if i can, how should it be written. Which variables can i use and what and how shoul i return the result? Greetings, Muhammed

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[Dovecot] Segmentation fault when only use pop3
by Tatsuyoshi 17 Mar '09

17 Mar '09

Hi. I found the problem when only use POP3 at v1.1.12. [root@kessel]# diff /usr/local/etc/dovecot-example.conf /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf 23a24 > protocols = pop3 47a49 > disable_plaintext_auth = no 88a91 > ssl_disable = yes [root@kessel]# /usr/local/sbin/dovecot Segmentation fault Cause, call null-pointer's pointer. The following is quick-hack patch, [toyota@kessel]% diff -c master-settings.c.org master-settings.c *** master-settings.c.org 2009-03-14 04:11:53.000000000 +0900 --- master-settings.c 2009-03-17 10:39:38.000000000 +0900 *************** *** 908,919 **** { const char *p; ! p = strstr(set->server->pop3->login_executable, " -D"); ! if (p != NULL && p[3] == '\0') ! return TRUE; ! p = strstr(set->server->imap->login_executable, " -D"); ! if (p != NULL && p[3] == '\0') ! return TRUE; return FALSE; } --- 908,923 ---- { const char *p; ! if(set->server->pop3) { ! p = strstr(set->server->pop3->login_executable, " -D"); ! if (p != NULL && p[3] == '\0') ! return TRUE; ! } ! if(set->server->imap) { ! p = strstr(set->server->imap->login_executable, " -D"); ! if (p != NULL && p[3] == '\0') ! return TRUE; ! } return FALSE; } Regards. -- Tatsuyoshi Toyota rs27(a)tatsuyoshi.net

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[Dovecot] expire tool in 1.1.11
by Harry Lachanas 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

Hi, I am on dovecot 1.1.11 trying to figure out the expire tool .... The thing is that when I had confed the exp tool there where a bunch of mails inside the mail boxes. Thus it seems as if the database is not updated about them. Is there a way to update it from command line to include the old mails ??? Thanks Harry

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[Dovecot] folders are not under INBOX
by Ondrej Svoboda 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

hi guys, I hope it's common trouble, but I'm not able to find a solution: - i'am using courier imap and trying to migrate to the dovecot - on courier I have all folders as subfolder of Inbox - i.e. Inbox.Sent but on dovecot the folder Sent is not subfolder of Inbox, but its on the same level. Please is there some possibility to have the subfolders the same behaviour as in courier? we have lot's of customers so after the upgrade the folders can't change. thank you ondrej

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[Dovecot] file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0)
by Frank Bonnet 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

Hello since few days I got this in dovecot log I use 1.1.11 on Debian etch 64 bits Thanks for any info dovecot: Mar 12 16:57:37 Panic: imap-login: file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0) dovecot: Mar 12 16:57:37 Error: child 5247 (login) killed with signal 6 (ip=80.125.173.19) dovecot: Mar 12 17:10:04 Panic: imap-login: file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0) dovecot: Mar 12 17:10:04 Error: child 6678 (login) killed with signal 6 (ip=92.132.140.150) dovecot: Mar 12 17:10:58 Panic: imap-login: file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0) dovecot: Mar 12 17:10:58 Error: child 6812 (login) killed with signal 6 (ip=90.3.120.43) dovecot: Mar 12 17:11:07 Panic: imap-login: file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0) dovecot: Mar 12 17:11:07 Error: child 6827 (login) killed with signal 6 (ip=90.3.120.43) dovecot: Mar 12 17:11:13 Panic: imap-login: file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0) dovecot: Mar 12 17:11:13 Error: child 6839 (login) killed with signal 6 (ip=90.3.120.43) dovecot: Mar 12 17:11:15 Panic: imap-login: file client-common.c: line 25 (client_unlink): assertion failed: (clients_count > 0) dovecot: Mar 12 17:11:15 Error: child 6841 (login) killed with signal 6 (ip=90.3.120.43)

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[Dovecot] Dovecot and high availability
by d dimov 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

Hello dear all. Please accept apologies if the topic was discussed already, tried searching the archives but found few details. What I am looking for would be the best way to making Dovecot highly available in an environment where: two Alteons are load-balancing two Dovecot servers, each Alteon seing both of them; the clients are using exclusively POP3; low volume; in case of a Dovecot server failure service should fail over to the other node with preferably no manual intervention. Failover could mean Alteons just ignoring the failed host and routing all requests to the healthy one. Would it be shared NFS volume mounted on both of the servers from some NAS, maildirs put on that volume and both Dovecots seing the mailboxes simultaneously? Any risks? Is there a good document describing such a setup? Thank you in advance and please indicate if I missed relevant details. Best regards, Dimov

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[Dovecot] Mailing list convert scripts not working on wiki
by Phill Edwards 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

I'm trying to download Julian Fitzell's scripts to convert mbox to Maildir format from the wiki page at http://wiki.dovecot.org/Migration/MailFormat But when I click on the links for the scripts it just sends me back to the same page rather than downloading the scripts. The links in question are http://wiki.dovecot.org/Migration/MailFormat?action=AttachFile&do=get&targe… and http://wiki.dovecot.org/Migration/MailFormat?action=AttachFile&do=get&targe… How can I get the scripts? Regards, Phill

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[Dovecot] MoinMoin wiki updated
by Timo Sirainen 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

I finally upgraded to MoinMoin v1.8.2 from old v1.5.8. Let me know if something doesn't work right.

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[Dovecot] fstat(mboxname.lock) failed: Bad file descriptor
by Mark Sapiro 16 Mar '09

16 Mar '09

I have just upgraded from 1.2.beta1 to 1.2.beta2. My configuration is: [root@sbh16 ~]# dovecot -n # 1.2.beta2: /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 2.6.18-8.1.14.el5 i686 CentOS release 5 (Final) protocols: pop3 pop3s imap imaps ssl_cert_file: /etc/postfix/sbh16-cert.pem ssl_key_file: /etc/postfix/sbh16-key.pem login_dir: /usr/local/var/run/dovecot/login login_executable(default): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login login_executable(imap): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login login_executable(pop3): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login mail_privileged_group: mail mail_location: mbox:~/Mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u mbox_write_locks: fcntl dotlock mail_executable(default): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap mail_executable(imap): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap mail_executable(pop3): /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/pop3 mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/imap mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/imap mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/local/lib/dovecot/pop3 pop3_lock_session(default): no pop3_lock_session(imap): no pop3_lock_session(pop3): yes auth default: mechanisms: plain apop login worker_max_count: 5 passdb: driver: passwd-file args: /usr/local/etc/dovecot.passwd passdb: driver: pam userdb: driver: passwd socket: type: listen client: path: /var/spool/postfix/private/auth mode: 432 user: postfix group: postfix [root@sbh16 ~]# This represents one change from the previous config. Previously with pop3_lock_session = yes, I needed mail_access_group = mail. With the upgrade to beta2, I changed that to mail_privileged_group = mail as shown above. Now, during a session lasting several seconds, I see the following in maillog: Mar 15 09:35:51 sbh16 dovecot: pop3-login: Login: user=<mark>, method=APOP, rip=68.183.193.239, lip=72.52.113.16, TLS Mar 15 09:36:01 sbh16 dovecot: POP3(mark): fstat(mark.lock) failed: Bad file descriptor Mar 15 09:36:04 sbh16 dovecot: POP3(mark): Disconnected: Logged out top=0/0, retr=1/1919972, del=0/328, size=5381253 Mar 15 09:36:04 sbh16 dovecot: child 9023 (pop3) killed with signal 11 (core dumps disabled) This does not occur with shorter sessions lasting only a few seconds or less. The only symptom is the log messages. The client sees nothing unusual, at least in this case where the session is a retrieval of one large message. I haven't tried long sessions retrieving multiple messages. If I remove pop3_lock_session = yes, the issue does not occur. I don't think I need it. I put it in a long time ago to attempt to solve a problem that was actually caused by something else. Since removing it does seem to avoid this issue, I will leave it out, but I'm reporting this anyway as it seems there may be some underlying problem. -- Mark Sapiro <mark(a)msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers, San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan

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[Dovecot] pop-proxy to redundant servers ?
by Jan-Frode Myklebust 15 Mar '09

15 Mar '09

I'm considering putting two servers with failover IP-addresses in front of our pop/imap cluster, with dovecot in proxy-mode running on both servers. But, can dovecot handle more than one backend server for each user ? I.e. I would want to point the dovecot proxy to send userX to backend-server1, or backend-server2 if backend-server1 is down. Is something like that possible ? -jf

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[Dovecot] Can't compile v1.2.beta2 w/o linux-quota
by Pascal Volk 15 Mar '09

15 Mar '09

Hi Timo, make dies with an error: quota-fs.c: In function ‘fs_quota_get_linux’: quota-fs.c:456: error: ‘no’ undeclared (first use in this function) quota-fs.c:456: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once quota-fs.c:456: error: for each function it appears in.) make[4]: *** [quota-fs.lo] Error 1 One of the configure options was: --without-linux-quota Regards, Pascal -- The trapper recommends today: deadbeef.0907402(a)localdomain.org

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[Dovecot] v1.1.12 and v1.2.beta2 released
by Timo Sirainen 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

http://dovecot.org/releases/1.1/dovecot-1.1.12.tar.gz http://dovecot.org/releases/1.1/dovecot-1.1.12.tar.gz.sig http://dovecot.org/releases/1.2/beta/dovecot-1.2.beta2.tar.gz http://dovecot.org/releases/1.2/beta/dovecot-1.2.beta2.tar.gz.sig I thought I'd do a double-release since it's Friday the 13th. v1.2.0 is getting closer, mainly some ACL fixes left. Changes in v1.2.beta2 since beta1: * Authentication userdb: Renamed system_user to system_groups_user. Probably pretty much no one used this feature. * deliver no longer creates temp files to /tmp. They're instead created to the users' mailbox directories. - IMAP: Fixed SORT command crashing - POP3 was broken in beta1 - Fixes to virtual mailboxes - Fixes to IMAP ACL support Changes in both v1.1.12 and v1.2.beta2: * Added :MAILBOXDIR= to mail_location to specify the root dir for mailboxes. dbox users should migrate to ":MAILBOXDIR=mailboxes", because that's going to be the default in v1.2+. + Linux: Adding -D parameter to login_executable makes login processes dump core to login_dir if they crash. - IMAP: SELECT didn't always return first unseen message in reply - POP3: pop3_lock_session=yes didn't use mail_privileged_group while dotlocking. - mbox: Don't crash if >=8192 bytes long line begins with "From ". - Maildir: More fixes to handling over 26 keywords. - Several logging fixes and improvements - Fixed authentication caching with non-plaintext mechanisms when using a blocking passdb (e.g. MySQL) - Fixed DIGEST-MD5 authentication with user@domain style usernames.

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[Dovecot] setting up both system password users AND virtual users
by Jim Pazarena 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

I'm afraid that I am a rookie at dovecot, and cannot seem to figure the configuration for a dual system & virtual setup. For now I am using POP3 ---only--- I've got the "system" working, but cannot figure out how to add the virtual system. The docs aren't quite clear enough for me to understand. The wiki example for dynamic passwd-file locations shows: mail_location = maildir:/home/%d/%n/Maildir userdb passwd-file etc etc I am using mbox, not maildir, AND I've already used mail_location for my system accounts with the following line: mail_location = mbox:~/mail/:INBOX=/mail/%u In the case of my virtual users, the mail is stored in INBOX=/mail/VIRTUAL/%d/%u and the password file is stored in /exim/etc/VIRTUAL/%d/passwd would someone kindly help me with this? thanks!

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[Dovecot] pam_authenticate() failed: authentication error
by Zbigniew Szalbot 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

Hello, I would like to ask for your help. I have noticed some error messages issued by dovecot. Mar 13 20:00:57 relay dovecot: auth-worker(default): pam(example(a)example.com): pam_authenticate() failed: authentication error (/etc/pam.d/dovecot missing?) Not surprisingly $ l /etc/pam.d/dovecot ls: /etc/pam.d/dovecot: No such file or directory The funny thing is that authentication does work but I guess I have something misconfigured. I'd appreciate if you could help me. I am on a FreeBSD system (7.0) if that matters. Thank you! -- Zbigniew Szalbot

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[Dovecot] How can i override mail_location?
by Zhang Huangbin 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

Hi, all. I use dovecot-1.1.11 with OpenLDAP backend. but i found the mail_location is not correct. How can i override mail_location setting in dovecot.conf? LDAP user data and dovecot config are attached below. in dovecot config, mail_location is: ---- mail_location = maildir:/%Lh/%Ld/%Ln/:INDEX=/%Lh/%Ld/%Ln/ ---- but the correct maildir should be 'homeDirectory' + 'mailMessageStore': ---- maildir:/home/vmail/a.cn/w/ww/www/ ---- LDAP user: ---- dn: mail=www(a)a.cn,ou=Users,domainName=a.cn,o=domains,dc=iredmail,dc=org objectClass: inetOrgPerson objectClass: mailUser objectClass: top cn: www sn: www uid: www mail: www(a)a.cn accountStatus: active homeDirectory: /home/vmail mailQuota: 104857600 userPassword: {SSHA}crkYO5tg8KRkOY7W3bRgjtLQ+79U4NgG enabledService: mail enabledService: smtp enabledService: pop3 enabledService: imap enabledService: deliver mailMessageStore: a.cn/w/ww/www/ ---- Dovecot ldap config file: ---- user_attrs = homeDirectory=home,=sieve_dir=/home/vmail/sieve/%Ld/%Ln/,mailMessageStore=maildir:mail,mailQuota=quota_rule=*:bytes=%$ ---- Dovecot main config file: ---- # dovecot -n # 1.1.11: /etc/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 2.6.18-128.el5 x86_64 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.3 (Tikanga) log_path: /var/log/dovecot.log protocols: pop3 pop3s imap imaps listen: * ssl_cert_file: /etc/pki/iRedMail/SSL_Cert.pem ssl_key_file: /etc/pki/iRedMail/SSL_Key.pem login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login login_executable(default): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login login_executable(imap): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap-login login_executable(pop3): /usr/libexec/dovecot/pop3-login mail_uid: 500 mail_gid: 500 mail_location: maildir:/%Lh/%Ld/%Ln/:INDEX=/%Lh/%Ld/%Ln/ mail_debug: yes mail_executable(default): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap mail_executable(imap): /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap mail_executable(pop3): /usr/libexec/dovecot/pop3 mail_plugins(default): quota imap_quota zlib mail_plugins(imap): quota imap_quota zlib mail_plugins(pop3): quota zlib mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/lib64/dovecot/imap mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/lib64/dovecot/imap mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/lib64/dovecot/pop3 pop3_client_workarounds(default): pop3_client_workarounds(imap): pop3_client_workarounds(pop3): outlook-no-nuls oe-ns-eoh auth default: mechanisms: plain login default_realm: a.cn user: vmail passdb: driver: ldap args: /etc/dovecot-ldap.conf userdb: driver: ldap args: /etc/dovecot-ldap.conf socket: type: listen client: path: /var/spool/postfix/dovecot-auth mode: 438 user: postfix group: postfix master: path: /var/run/dovecot/auth-master mode: 438 user: vmail group: vmail plugin: quota: maildir quota_rule: *:storage=10M expire: Trash 7 Trash/* 7 Junk 30 expire_dict: proxy::expire auth_socket_path: /var/run/dovecot/auth-master sieve: /home/vmail/sieve/%Ld/%Ln/.dovecot.sieve dict: expire: db:/var/lib/dovecot/expire/expire.db ---- -- Best regards. Zhang Huangbin - Open Source Mail Server Solution for RHEL/CentOS 5.x: http://code.google.com/p/iredmail/

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Re: [Dovecot] using passwd userdb with sql passdb
by Timo Sirainen 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

On Fri, 2009-03-13 at 16:18 -0700, Shane W wrote: > The problem may be the shane@ bit. If I delete the sql > entry, the lookup just shows 'shane'. I'm not loging in > with @ but my query does use the username,domain syntax for > instances of virtual users which don't use passwd userdb: > select username,domain,password from users > WHERE username = '%n' AND domain = '%d' Does the domain field contain an empty string instead of NULL? If so, I think the behavior is correct. Maybe change the query to: where username = '%n' and (domain = '%d' or ('%d' = '' and domain is null)) And change all the domain='' to domain=NULL.

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Re: [Dovecot] Problem with sasl auth with postfix...
by Douglas M. Stanley 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

----- "Timo Sirainen" <tss(a)iki.fi> wrote: > On Fri, 2009-03-13 at 16:40 -0400, Douglas M. Stanley wrote: > > Yep, postfix is installed: > > > > mailserver:/etc/postfix# postconf -h mail_owner > > postfix > .. > > > Mar 13 19:16:30 mailserver dovecot: auth(default): User doesn't > exist: postfix > > Does your Postfix installation actually work? What user do you see > running the Postfix processes? Yep, works fine. The user running the postfix processes is postfix: root 4219 1 0 19:28 ? 00:00:00 /usr/lib/postfix/master postfix 4302 4219 0 19:48 ? 00:00:00 qmgr -l -t fifo -u postfix 4319 4219 0 19:49 ? 00:00:00 tlsmgr -l -t unix -u -c postfix 4352 4219 0 21:27 ? 00:00:00 pickup -l -t fifo -u -c Thanks, Doug

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[Dovecot] New to list, got a quota question
by Vlad Sedov 14 Mar '09

14 Mar '09

Hello folks - I'm running dovecot on top of qmail/vpopmail/mysql, serving up about 2500 mailboxes. Everything is running very smooth and fast.... I recently upgraded dovecot to 1.1, so I'm trying to implement some extra features like IMAP quotas. I'm using the sql passdb, with the following config: driver = mysql connect = host=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock user=username password=password dbname=vpopmail default_pass_scheme = PLAIN password_query = SELECT CONCAT(pw_name, '@', pw_domain) AS user, pw_clear_passwd AS password FROM vpopmail WHERE pw_name = '%n' AND pw_domain = '%d' user_query = SELECT pw_dir as home, 508 AS uid, 503 AS gid FROM vpopmail WHERE pw_name = '%n' AND pw_domain = '%d' My vpopmail installation keeps the quota information in the mysql database (pw_shell field) instead of maildirsize. The quota is in maildir format, e.g. 400M or 50331648S. Unlimited quota is specified as NOQUOTA. The question is... Is it possible to make dovecot understand this format and get it directly from SQL (via user_query, for example) or would it be easier to reconfigure the vpopmail installation somehow to use maildirsize? Thanks! Vlad

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[Dovecot] vpopmail support on 64 bits
by aledr 13 Mar '09

13 Mar '09

Good day! Compiling 1.1.11 with vpopmail flag on a 64bit system drop me these warnings that breaks it portability: passdb-vpopmail.c: In function 'vpopmail_lookup_credentials': passdb-vpopmail.c:71: warning: pointer targets in passing argument 2 of 'callback' differ in signedness passdb-vpopmail.c: In function 'vpopmail_preinit': passdb-vpopmail.c:141: warning: implicit declaration of function 'auth_cache_parse_key' passdb-vpopmail.c:142: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast Thanks. -- [ ]'s Aledr - Alexandre "OpenSource Solutions for SmallBusiness Problems"

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[Dovecot] how to handle CA CRL updates with client certificate verification context ?
by Raphael PRECIGOUT 13 Mar '09

13 Mar '09

Hello, As far as I can read in the Dovecot SSL configuration wiki page, each CA cert must be followed by the related CA CRL in the client certificate verification context ("ssl_ca_file" setting). In my company we do have our own PKI and as soon as Client certificate is compromised we do revoke it and update the related CA's CRL. Does that mean that I have to issue a new "ssl_ca_file" file as soon as our issuing CA CRL is updated ? If yes, does someone has an idea on how to do so ? Is it then necessary to restart dovecot process (to take the "ssl_ca_file" file changes into account) ? Does Dovecot have a way to check the issuing CA CRL automatically ? (the CRL is published in DER format and is accessible though http, the URI is mentionned in the CRL Distribution points of the CA certificate) Thanks in advance for your help. Regards, Raphael

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[Dovecot] Problem with sasl auth with postfix...
by Douglas M. Stanley 13 Mar '09

13 Mar '09

Hello list, I'm running into some problems, and I couldn't find any info about this anywhere on the net. I recently set up a new debian lenny machine, and used my notes from the last debian etch machine I set up, which basically is for postfix + dovecot for sasl auth. On my old etch box, in the dovecot.conf, in the auth default section, I have a socket listen { client { path = /var/spool/postfix/private/auth mode = 0660 user = postfix group = postfix } } However, if I use the same config on my lenny setup, dovecot fails to start, and I see this in my logs: Mar 13 19:16:30 mailserver dovecot: Dovecot v1.0.15 starting up Mar 13 19:16:30 mailserver dovecot: auth(default): User doesn't exist: postfix Mar 13 19:16:30 mailserver dovecot: Auth process died too early - shutting down Mar 13 19:16:30 mailserver dovecot: child 4623 (auth) returned error 89 Now if I comment out the user and group lines, it works fine, but the socket is owned by root, and so I have to change the mode line so that it's world readable in order for postfix to use it. The version of dovecot in etch is: 1.0.rc15-2etch4 and the version in lenny is: 1.0.15-2.3 Any ideas why this might be happening? Did the syntax to do this change between those versions? Any input? I guess I don't mind leaving it world readable, but I wasted an entire morning trying everything to get it to work, so I guess I'm hoping some one atleast has an answer as to why it doesn't work. Thanks, Doug

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[Dovecot] Using LDAP for Dovecot extra/regular fields
by Jack Stewart 13 Mar '09

13 Mar '09

Hi, We're moving to a dovecot proxy / server configuration in order to make sure that a users go to a specific server. If someone has used these LDAP for this, there are a few things that I wish to verify. Dovecot does not verify that type of the LDAP attribute, only that the returned value works. If a boolean is used for a yes/no field, then FALSE sets the field to no and TRUE sets the field to yes. If a multivalue attribute is used for a single value field, the last returned value for the LDAP lookup is used in that field (i.e. host will use the last value). If a string attribute is returned for a yes/no field and has any value, then the associated field is set to true. There is no automatic failover with the host field so if the remote host is down, the IMAP connection no longer works. I'm fairly sure of all of these except for the boolean. Now this is just due diligence. I don't know that turning on/off or switching LDAP attributes is the right way to go to handle failover but it might work for phased rollout. My feeling is the best configuration will be using a secondary IP address that has to be manually turned on for a host after a reboot or shutdown. This creates a poor mans "fencing". The secondary can either be brought up on another host or handled via a load balance with DSR/backup server. As a practical matter, it is probably worth setting sensible attributes for each field (i.e. numeric for host, boolean for proxy/proxy_maybe etc). Any interest in registering an LDAP object class for dovecot? ---Jack

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[Dovecot] Maildir dirty syncs
by Timo Sirainen 13 Mar '09

13 Mar '09

http://dovecot.org/patches/1.1/maildir-dirty-syncs.diff This patch adds a new maildir_very_dirty_syncs setting. If set to "yes", Dovecot assumes it's the only one changing the cur/ directory (so other MDAs can add mails to new/ without problems). This makes it possible to avoid rescanning the cur/ directory all the time looking for filenames. It also looks like (in stress testing) it still scans the cur/ directory unneededly in some situations, but it shouldn't be common. Maybe I'll look into it some day to see why. I'd be interested in hearing how large performance benefits it gives, if any. If they're big I could consider adding it to v1.1.12. If they're pretty much irrelevant I probably won't even bother adding the code to v1.2. I guess you mainly see the performance benefits with large/huge mailboxes.

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