[Dovecot] Newbie-ish Questions

[Joe Dauncey]

Curtis,

Thanks for the explanation... Unfortunately it doesn't quite work.

On Mon, May 23, 2005 at 12:27:21PM +1000, Curtis Maloney wrote:
> 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 running version 0.99.13-3 on Fedora Core 3

> >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).
> 
I can do this by subscribing to the folders I want right?

> >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.
> 
I have set it up as default_mail_env = maildir:~/Mail:INBOX=~/Mail/.INBOX
I've moved $HOME/Mail/cur (and tmp, new and dovecot-uidlist) all into .INBOX

However, when I connect remotely I cannot see any mails, but if I open it locally (using Mutt) I can still see the mails in $HOME/Mail/.INBOX

So, I'm not sure if there's something wrong with my .INBOX, or if it's not even looking there.

> >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
> 

-- 

Joe Dauncey