[Dovecot] Newbie-ish Questions

[Curtis Maloney]

Joe Dauncey wrote:
> Hi,
> 

Please remember in future to always include which version of Dovecot 
you're running.  It sometimes makes a big difference.  In this case, it 
probably doesn't.

> I'm in the process of migrating from local Maildir, to IMAP-enabled Maildir (terms are made up by me).
> I have my Maildir directories all under $HOME/Mail
> I have a procmail script that sorts everything into different folders under $HOME/Mail, and leaves the rest in a Maildir folder chosen by me, that I think of as my INBOX.

Note that you'll likely have to tell your mail client to check all the 
mailboxes procmail delivers too for new mail, not just INBOX (as most 
default to).

> Now, I am assuming that the folder I identify as INBOX is the one that a client will interpret as the INBOX?
> I really want the INBOX to be one of the folders under $HOME/Mail, but at the moment dovecot only will only consider the folder $HOME/Mail as the INBOX, so I have to send my 'inbox' mail to $HOME/Mail, rather than what I would prefer, which would be $HOME/Mail/INBOX (or something like that).
> 
> The seting I have in dovecot.conf is:
> default_mail_env = maildir:~/Mail
> 
> Is this is the only way, or am I doing something wrong?
> 
> Should I be using default_mail_env to define the inbox? e.g. with:
> default_mail_env = maildir:~/Mail:INBOX=INBOX (or whatever my inbox mail folder name is)

You're almost there.  Put the inbox path in as INBOX=~/Mail/INBOX.. so 
you wind up with:
default_mail_env = maildir:~/Mail:INBOX=~/Mail/INBOX

And I believe it will work.

> Maybe I've just got my Maildir folder set up completely wrong, and I'm supposed to accept the Maildir folder itself as the inbox? If so, please just send me on my way ;-)
> 
> Also, since I don't know much about IMAP, where can I find out what the .subscriptions file is, and what it does, and also all the other files created by dovecot, like the .imap files and the .customflags

A lot of those files you shouldn't touch.  They're mostly for the 
internal workings of the server.

.subscriptions is because IMAP is designed for mail and news, and allows 
users to "subscribe" to some folders, or opt to not see them.  This can 
have a lot more meaning if you have shared folders (available in 1.0) or 
news groups (outside the realm of this discussion).

.customflags is (AFAIK) for storing details about any client custom 
flags.  As an example, Thunderbird allows you to tag e-mails into one of 
5 custom categories.  It uses custom flags to mark this on the server.

--
Curtis Maloney