[Dovecot] mbox vs maildir

[Curtis Maloney]

poohba at blkpoohba.dyndns.org wrote:
> I am a little confused and maybe if I figure this out I will be able to 
> get this to work.  I am now able to get my pop3 working but not imap.  

I take it you're not using Dovecot for POP3, then?  If not, any particular 
reason why not?

> My inbox is in /var/spool/mail/%u and my mail directory is /home/%u/mail 
> and then all the 'folders' are there which are actually files.  Is that 
> maildir or mbox?

If each folder is a single file, that's mbox.

Maildir has a separate directory for each folder, with three directories in 
each: new, tmp, cur.  Each of these contain 0 or more files, each file a 
single e-mail.

>  Which do I have to use for dovecot?  Or can I use 
> whichever I choose.

Dovecot can understand both.  Which format it is depends on either Dovecot 
guessing, or you telling it in the MAIL env.  Check the "default_mail_env" 
setting in the config file.

>  I would like to keep the setup I have and use IMAP 
> but i am finding this very difficult.  I find some places that say I 
> have to convert what I have and other places that say I don't.  Can 
> someone please break it down for me.

Without knowing what setup you have, I can't say if you'd have to convert 
anything.  What do these sources say needs to be converted, and to what?

I found that Dovecot's flexibility makes very few demands on how you do 
things.  If your existing mail is in mbox format, you can continue to use mbox.

 From the paths you mention above, I believe setting:
	default_mail_env = mbox:/home/%u/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u
should set you right.  That is, assuming your MDA is delivering mail to 
/var/spool/mail/%u.

A few questions for you:
1) Which OS are you running this on?
2) Which version of Dovecot?
3) What are you migrating from?
4) If you're not using Dovecot for POP3 also, what are you using?

--
Curtis Maloney