[Dovecot] dbox - how to awaken the monster

[Daniel L. Miller]

Odhiambo Washington wrote:
> I thought so. Now I have seen, read and understood (so far)
> http://wiki.dovecot.org/LDA/Exim.
> However I do not see any examples for configuring dovecot for dbox. Is it as
> easy as s/maildir/dbox/g in the following:
>
> mail_location =
> maildir:/var/spool/virtual/%d/%n/Maildir:INDEX=/var/dovecot/%u:CONTROL=/var/dovecot/%u
>   
Not quite.  And "configuration" is not "migration" - keep that in mind 
if you're trying to change an existing system.

Given the above, I'd do:
mail_location = dbox:/var/spool/virtual/%d/%n/dbox

Keep in mind dbox is 100% proprietary to Dovecot.  While indexes are 
supplemental - even optional - for the other formats, part of what makes 
dbox special is that the mails are stored in the indexes.  So your 
configuration that has the indexes split off to different folders 
probably isn't a good idea if you're going to dbox.
> And suppose I wanted to redeliver mail stored in dbox, using the MTA?? For
> example, I have used the following script to redeliver mail stored in
> Maildir:
>   
I don't think this would be an option anymore.  Maildir stores the raw 
message in a simple file - which makes such manipulation easy.  Dbox 
will store it in a proprietary format.  Unless a utility is provided 
that would accept a dbox message-id and return a raw message (haven't 
seen one advertised) you would have to use some kind of IMAP interface 
to accomplish this.  If such access is important to you - stick with 
maildir.
> Ok. Sorry it looks like I have unending questions:(
>   
Never apologize for seeking knowledge.
-- 
Daniel