- dovecot - dovecot.org

[Dovecot] Secure coding guide
by Timo Sirainen 21 Sep '03

21 Sep '03

I thought I'd write a small guide to what Dovecot's "secure coding techniques" are and how you'd use them: http://dovecot.fi/doc/securecoding.txt

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[Dovecot] convert wu-imap Maildir format to dovecot
by Alin Osan 21 Sep '03

21 Sep '03

Hello, I intend to migrate a mail server with Maildir from wu-imap to dovecot imap. Using horde/IMP, users can not access their imap forders, as wu-imap created Mail directory that holds all created folders. Dovecot could not detect the mail directory so I had to put default_mail_env = ~/Maildir in dovecot.conf. Before I begin to read the source-code of dovecot or try to migrate the the mailboxes using a shell script, is there any way I can make dovecot read the wu-imap folders format? Please suggest any solution that you find viable. Thank you. -- -- We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -- Alin Osan

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[Dovecot] namespaces
by Brian Marcotte 20 Sep '03

20 Sep '03

I'm trying to use the namespaces feature to set up dovecot to look just like our existing Courier IMAP server, and our previous Cyrus server. That is, all folders are subfolders of INBOX, and the hierachy separator is ".". I put this in the configuration file: namespace private { separator = . prefix = INBOX. location = maildir:~/.maildir } This makes subfolders work correctly, but it can't find the INBOX: x1 select INBOX x1 NO Unknown namespace. Also, I don't really want to specify the location here. I want to use the userdb settings (I'm using password-file). Is there a way to make it use my setting in the userdb/password-file? Also, I'm not sure if it actually matters, but when selecting a folder, the number of RECENT messages is always the same as the number of messages which EXISTS: x2 select INBOX.Tech * FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft) * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft \*)] Flags permitted. * 70 EXISTS * 70 RECENT * OK [UNSEEN 69] First unseen. * OK [UIDVALIDITY 1057356619] UIDs valid * OK [UIDNEXT 181] Predicted next UID x2 OK [READ-WRITE] Select completed. I'm afraid some clients may use this information for something, and display incorrect information to the user. Thanks! -- - Brian

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[Dovecot] Feature question/request
by Dan Sully 20 Sep '03

20 Sep '03

So I have a bunch of users who are roaming - IE no static IP address from all over the internet. Some of them are able to use SMTP-AUTH which is great, but for those that can't, a pop before smtp solution is in place using relay-ctrl-age & cdb files via qmail. Would it be desirable to have this feature in dovecot? I'd really like to ditch qmail-pop3d, etc. vpopmail has a open_smtp_relay() when using vchkpw directly. -D -- <iNoah> I won't be satisfied until I have a rectally-insertable laptop

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[Dovecot] Multiple auth checkers
by Dan Sully 17 Sep '03

17 Sep '03

I noticed this is in the TODO: - support for multiple auth checkers. passdb+userdb should be tied together. auth process configurations really should be used for this.. and is functionality that I really would like, as I have local users (passwd+shadow) and vpopmail users. In -test7's dovecot-example.conf, there is a different format for "blocking" multiple auth types, and I created a conf as such: auth default { mechanisms = plain userdb = passwd passdb = shadow user = root count = 2 } auth vpopmail { mechanisms = plain userdb = vpopmail passdb = vpopmail user = vpopmail count = 2 } Password authentication still works fine, but I can't find a way to get it to fallback to using the vpopmail auth. Is this simply not working yet? Timo - what part of the code needs this update? Thanks. -D -- Change? We fear change.

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[Dovecot] Dovecot + PostgreSQL + Postfix with SMTP AUTH HOWTO
by Timo Sirainen 16 Sep '03

16 Sep '03

Just built one and figured I'd write down what I did :) Still needing some web thingy to configure it. At least a password changer plugin for Squirrelmail. http://wiki.dovecot.fi/moin.cgi/DovecotPostgresql

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[Dovecot] Unable to access the mailbox or folders !!
by nasir nasir 16 Sep '03

16 Sep '03

Hi, Thanx a lot for your reply. But my log file(its /var/log/dovecot) doesnt have any information other than the following line for example, imap-login: Sep 16 10:31:50 Info: Login: usr1 [127.0.0.1] After this when I give select command or anything like that, its not logged(I dont know also, how to enable maximum debug information, I checked the docs and all) Again, let me tell you that I suspect there is something wrong with the mail environment setting. its as follows default_mail_env = maildir:/var/spool/mail/%u/Maildir and when i give some nonexisting location ( eg; /var/blah/blah) also, I get the SAME ERROR. Here is a sample telnet session Trying 127.0.0.1... Connected to localhost.localdomain (127.0.0.1). Escape character is '^]'. * OK dovecot ready. a01 login usr1 XXXXXXXXX a01 OK Logged in. a02 select inbox a02 NO Please tell me if you would like to have any other info. Thanx again and regards, Nasirudheen --- Timo Sirainen <tss(a)iki.fi> wrote: > On Tue, 2003-09-16 at 01:35, nasir nasir wrote: > > Hi all, > > I have installed dovecot on redhat linux > with > > ldap backend. I can login using ldap account in to > my > > webmail (squirrelmail) .But when I login to the > > webmail , I cant see any inbox or anything . Just > some > > error messages like this , > > Check the log file. /var/log/mail.log usually. It > should give more > specific error message on what happened. > > > I tried to telnet to port 143. Its also similar > case. > > It allows me to login but when I give "select" > command > > , it gives error(in fact, "NO" and nothing else). > > "x select inbox" too? > > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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[Dovecot] Locking foolishness
by Ian Marlier 16 Sep '03

16 Sep '03

I'm working on getting Dovecot set up on my school's mailserver, as an IMAP and POP server. Everything is going well, move over to maildir went well, and all that... The catch: When I coverted from mbox to maildir (as part of this whole process), I put the Maildir folders under user home dirs -- and the home dirs are mounted via NFS from a server. This is for reasons of space as well as simply seeming to make sense. Now I get errors in my mail.log which read: imap-login: Sep 16 00:16:24 dovecot:Info: Login: marlier [209.6.159.188] imap(marlier): Sep 16 00:16:28 dovecot:Error: file_wait_lock() failed with index file /Network/Servers/network.uphamscornercs.net/Users/marlier/Maildir/.INBOX/.im ap.index: Invalid argument It looks to me like it's a file locking problem...any thoughts on how to get around it? I've already tried the dotlock mechanism alone...without success... More information available upon request... - Ian

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[Dovecot] Locking foolishness - Better info
by Ian Marlier 16 Sep '03

16 Sep '03

I realized that my last message about locking gave bad information -- or rather, very little information. Here's my setup: - Home directories and user login information are located on an Xserve running Mac OS X 10.2.6. Home directories are split between 2 different directories -- /Users and /Students. Home dirs are exported via NFS to the mail server. User login info is shared via LDAP to the mail server and to Windows machines in classrooms. - The mail server is an old beige G3 running Debian Woody (linux 2.4.20) kernel. It's completely up-to-date. Homedirs are mounted at /Network/Servers/network.uphamscornercs.net/Users and /Network/Servers/network.uphamscornercs.net/Students, in keeping with the OS X Server userdir name scheme. The only user with a shell on the server is root, other than that all user information is pulled from LDAP using PAM. Postfix is setup to deliver mail to maildir:~/Maildir, and dovecot is set to read mail from the same directory. This is working without any problem. - Clients Entourage works fine to access mailboxes -- it reads mail without a problem. However, it pops up an error message intermittently that reads "Mail could not be read: Internal Error [<datestamp>]". This message doesn't seem to interfere with reading mail, it's just an annoyance. Squirrelmail doesn't work to access mailboxes. It logs in fine, but gives the following error message in all windows that require mailbox access: "ERROR : Could not complete request. Query: <imap query string> Reason Given: Internal error [<datestamp>]" In both cases (Entourage and Squirrelmail), the Internal Error is accompanied by the following error message in the /var/log/mail.log file: "imap(marlier): Sep 16 08:40:45 dovecot:Error: /Network/Servers/network.uphamscornercs.net/Users/marlier/Maildir/.subscript ions failed with subscription file file_wait_lock(): Invalid argument" So, it looks to me like something isn't working with locking. I'm not sure whether the problem is with the NFS mount, or with dovecot, or with permissions, or something else, but I'd like to get it fixed. I love the server, and if I can get this licked I think I've got a long-term setup. Relevant sections of /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf: -------- # Use mmap() instead of read() to read mail files. read() seems to be a bit # faster with my Linux/x86 and it's better with NFS, so that's the default. mail_read_mmaped = no # Copy mail to another folders using hard links. This is much faster than # actually copying the file. This is problematic only if something modifies # the mail in one folder but doesn't want it modified in the others. I don't # know any MUA which would modify mail files directly. IMAP protocol also # requires that the mails don't change, so it would be problematic in any case. # If you care about performance, enable it. maildir_copy_with_hardlinks = no # Check if mails' content has been changed by external programs. This slows # down things as extra stat() needs to be called for each file. If changes are # noticed, the message is treated as a new message, since IMAP protocol # specifies that existing message are immutable. maildir_check_content_changes = yes # Which locking methods to use for locking mbox. There's three available: # dotlock: Create <mailbox>.lock file. This is the oldest and most NFS-safe # solution. If you want to use /var/mail/ like directory, the users # will need write access to that directory. # fcntl : Use this if possible. Works with NFS too if lockd is used. # flock : May not exist in all systems. Doesn't work with NFS. # # You can use both fcntl and flock too; if you do the order they're declared # with is important to avoid deadlocks if other MTAs/MUAs are using both fcntl # and flock. Some operating systems don't allow using both of them # simultaneously, eg. BSDs. If dotlock is used, it's always created first. mbox_locks = dotlock # Should we create dotlock file even when we want only a read-lock? Setting # this to yes hurts the performance when the mailbox is accessed simultaneously # by multiple processes, but it's needed for reliable reading if no other # locking methods are available. mbox_read_dotlock = yes # Maximum time in seconds to wait for lock (all of them) before aborting. mbox_lock_timeout = 300 # If dotlock exists but the mailbox isn't modified in any way, override the # lock file after this many seconds. mbox_dotlock_change_timeout = 30 # umask to use for mail files and directories umask = 0077 # Drop all privileges before exec()ing the mail process. This is mostly # meant for debugging, otherwise you don't get core dumps. Note that setting # this to yes means that log file is opened as the logged in user, which # might not work. It could also be a small security risk if you use single UID # for multiple users, as the users could ptrace() each others processes then. mail_drop_priv_before_exec = no --------- Thanks in advance for any help you can give. - Ian

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[Dovecot] Unable to access the mailbox or folders !!
by nasir nasir 15 Sep '03

15 Sep '03

Hi all, I have installed dovecot on redhat linux with ldap backend. I can login using ldap account in to my webmail (squirrelmail) .But when I login to the webmail , I cant see any inbox or anything . Just some error messages like this , ERROR: ERROR : Connection dropped by imap-server. Query: LIST "" "Sent" ERROR : Could not complete request. Query: SELECT "INBOX" Reason Given: I tried to telnet to port 143. Its also similar case. It allows me to login but when I give "select" command , it gives error(in fact, "NO" and nothing else). Required info, OS - Redhat 8.0 dovecot - dovecot-0.99.10-2.dag.src.rpm ( --with-ldap --with-rawlog additionally) MTA - Exim 4.14 Webmail - Squirrelmail 1.4.1-2 Location of Maildir - /var/spool/mail/USERNAME/Maildir dovecot configuration has the following line, default_mail_env = maildir:/var/spool/mail/%u/Maildir Is there anything I am missing or doing wrong ? I am sorry if this is a silly question. But I am a newbie to dovecot and did a lot of google search for this error or even additional documentation for dovecot without any success. Any suggestion or advice would be highly appreciated. Regards, Nasirudheen __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

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