[Dovecot] POP3: Keep a copy on server failed ...

Dumitru Negara dumitru at itcnetworks.ro
Mon Jul 17 17:01:44 EEST 2006


I guess your problem is NFS related. "dovecot-uidlist" file should be 
updated by dovecot. Dovecot writes to this file mails which have been 
seen by client already.

This is how my "dovecot-uidlist" file looks like before and after POP3 
download.

- before POP3 download:
stargate:/space/vmail/domain.tld/gogu# stat dovecot-uidlist
  File: `dovecot-uidlist'
  Size: 314             Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   regular file
Device: 90ah/2314d      Inode: 671394374   Links: 1
Access: (0600/-rw-------)  Uid: (  111/   vmail)   Gid: (  111/   vmail)
Access: 2006-07-17 15:52:09.000000000 +0300
Modify: 2006-07-17 15:52:09.000000000 +0300
Change: 2006-07-17 15:52:10.000163490 +0300

- after POP3 download:
stargate:/space/vmail/domain.tld/gogu# stat dovecot-uidlist
  File: `dovecot-uidlist'
  Size: 389             Blocks: 8          IO Block: 4096   regular file
Device: 90ah/2314d      Inode: 671394373   Links: 1
Access: (0600/-rw-------)  Uid: (  111/   vmail)   Gid: (  111/   vmail)
Access: 2006-07-17 16:36:20.000000000 +0300
Modify: 2006-07-17 16:36:20.000000000 +0300
Change: 2006-07-17 16:36:21.002446071 +0300

I do not use NFS, so I cannot help you with this. :(

Can anybody help Dominique with this issue?

Regards,
Dumitru

Dominique Feyer wrote:
> Le lundi 17 juillet 2006 à 15:57 +0300, Dumitru Negara a écrit :
>> 1. You mentioned a "cluster". Can you provide more details on your setup?
>
> We have 1 load balancer server, after 2 antispam antivirus, and finaly 2
> dovecot server (for delivery of mail and POP/IMAP connection).
>
> Share filesystem is on an NFS server and DB on an other PostgreSQL
> server.
>
>> 2. Do you have "dovecot-uidlist" file in users homes? Is this file get
>> updated after users download their emails over POP3?
>
> Yes dovecot-uidlist is on the homedir of each user (NFS)
>
> Before POP3 (with one message in the mailbox)
>
> mail2:/var/mail/jamesdo.com/mails/test# stat dovecot-uidlist
> File: `dovecot-uidlist'
> Size: 106 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 fichier
> r�gulier
> Device: eh/14d Inode: 45383789 Links: 1
> Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 2000/ UNKNOWN) Gid: ( 2000/ UNKNOWN)
> Access: 2006-07-17 15:09:15.000000000 +0200
> Modify: 2006-07-17 13:30:01.000000000 +0200
> Change: 2006-07-17 13:30:01.000000000 +0200
>
> And after POP3
>
> mail2:/var/mail/jamesdo.com/mails/test# stat dovecot-uidlist
> File: `dovecot-uidlist'
> Size: 106 Blocks: 8 IO Block: 4096 fichier
> r�gulier
> Device: eh/14d Inode: 45383789 Links: 1
> Access: (0600/-rw-------) Uid: ( 2000/ UNKNOWN) Gid: ( 2000/ UNKNOWN)
> Access: 2006-07-17 15:12:54.000000000 +0200
> Modify: 2006-07-17 13:30:01.000000000 +0200
> Change: 2006-07-17 13:30:01.000000000 +0200
>
> So the file is just accessed but not updated. If I send new mail, then
> this file is updated. The content of the file is:
>
> 1 0 5
> 1 1153135369.P21267Q0M227315.mail2.clm.net4all.ch
> 2 1153135573.P22034Q0M500053.mail2.clm.net4all.ch
> 3 1153141989.P14835Q0M535898.mail2.clm.net4all.ch
> 4 1153142047.P15076Q0M96504.mail2.clm.net4all.ch
>
> Thanks
>
>
>
>> Dumitru
>>
>> Dominique Feyer wrote:
>>> I change nothing since 1 weeks, last update was to remove the ACL
>>> plugin.
>>>
>>> For default_mail_env, I have:
>>>
>>> default_mail_env = maildir:%h/:INDEX=MEMORY
>>>
>>> For pop3_uidl_format, I read in the comment of the sample conf file:
>>>
>>> "UW's ipop3d : %08Xv%08Xu" and a few line after "%08Xu%08Xv will be the
>>> new default" This is not the same string and I use the second "%08Xu%
>>> 08Xv"
>>>
>>> This is strange the default Dovecot is %08Xu%08Xv and for UW is %08Xv%
>>> 08Xu ?
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>>
>>> Le lundi 17 juillet 2006 à 15:29 +0300, Dumitru Negara a écrit :
>>>> Did you modified something in your config recently?
>>>> Like default_mail_env = ... CONTROL=/some/path
>>>>
>>>> Dumitru
>>>>
>>>> Dominique Feyer wrote:
>>>>> I have just use 0.99 for test before production on this server. The
>>>>> first version in production was beta9.
>>>>>
>>>>> I just create some new account right now with RC2, and I have this
>>>>> probelm.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thansk for your help
>>>>>
>>>>> Le lundi 17 juillet 2006 à 15:02 +0300, Dumitru Negara a écrit :
>>>>>> Is this a new installation of Dovecot? Or you just upgraded from 
>>>>>> 0.99?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dumitru
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dominique Feyer wrote:
>>>>>>> I have this in my configuration:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> protocol pop3 {
>>>>>>> pop3_enable_last = no
>>>>>>> pop3_uidl_format = %08Xu%08Xv
>>>>>>> pop3_client_workarounds = outlook-no-nuls, oe-ns-eoh
>>>>>>> }
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If I change the pop3_uidl_format I need to remove all the index
>>>>>>> file on
>>>>>>> my server ? I read on the doc that this change cann't be done on a
>>>>>>> production server ?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I have more than 10'000 accounts on this cluster so I can't have 
>>>>>>> a big
>>>>>>> downtime.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Le lundi 17 juillet 2006 à 14:48 +0300, Dumitru Negara a écrit :
>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Dominique Feyer wrote:
>>>>>>>>> I have a big problem with our cluster, if i read my mail with POP3
>>>>>>>>> client (and check the option, keep a copy on server), every time I
>>>>>>>>> read
>>>>>>>>> my mail, my client retrive ALL messages an the mailbox !!!
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> I test this with:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> - Apple Mail 1.0 + 2.0
>>>>>>>>> - M$ Outlook 2000 + 2003
>>>>>>>>> - Thunderbird
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> We use:
>>>>>>>>> - Dovecot RC1
>>>>>>>>> - Postfix on Debian Sarge (stable)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Can you know this bug ? Or have a workaround ?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> This function is really important for our customer as we offer a
>>>>>>>>> backup
>>>>>>>>> solution for her mails.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It's probably just a configuration issue.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If you upgraded from dovecot 0.99 or maybe migrated from another
>>>>>>>> IMAP/POP3 server you should set correctly the "pop3_uidl_format"
>>>>>>>> parameter.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I upgraded from 0.99 to 1.0.rc2 and below is my "pop3_uidl_format":
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> # POP3 UIDL format to use. You can use following variables:
>>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>>> # %v - Mailbox UIDVALIDITY
>>>>>>>> # %u - Mail UID
>>>>>>>> # %m - MD5 sum of the mailbox headers in hex (mbox only)
>>>>>>>> # %f - filename (maildir only)
>>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>>> # If you want UIDL compatibility with other POP3 servers, use:
>>>>>>>> # UW's ipop3d : %08Xv%08Xu
>>>>>>>> # Courier version 0 : %f
>>>>>>>> # Courier version 1 : %u
>>>>>>>> # Courier version 2 : %v-%u
>>>>>>>> # Cyrus (<= 2.1.3) : %u
>>>>>>>> # Cyrus (>= 2.1.4) : %v.%u
>>>>>>>> # Older Dovecots : %v.%u
>>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>>> # Note that Outlook 2003 seems to have problems with %v.%u format
>>>>>>>> which was
>>>>>>>> # Dovecot's default, so if you're building a new server it 
>>>>>>>> would be a
>>>>>>>> good
>>>>>>>> # idea to change this. %08Xu%08Xv should be pretty fail-safe.
>>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>>> # NOTE: Nowadays this is required to be set explicitly, since 
>>>>>>>> the old
>>>>>>>> # default was bad but it couldn't be changed without breaking
>>>>>>>> existing
>>>>>>>> # installations. %08Xu%08Xv will be the new default, so use it
>>>>>>>> for new
>>>>>>>> # installations.
>>>>>>>> #
>>>>>>>> #pop3_uidl_format =
>>>>>>>> pop3_uidl_format = %v.%u
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> This works fine even with Outlook 2000/2003. Clients
>>>>>>>> (Thunderbird, OE,
>>>>>>>> Outlook 2000/2003) download just new mails.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>> Dumitru
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>


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