[Dovecot] dovecot: auth(default): Can't open configuration file /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf: Permission denied

[Kevin P. McDonough]

Hello,

I have been searching all day for help on an issue I am having after 
installing and just having begun to configure dovecot.  Whenever I try 
to start the dovecot daemon I receive the following errors in the syslog:

Apr  4 13:15:03 ***** dovecot: auth(default): Can't open configuration 
file /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf: Permission denied
Apr  4 13:15:03 *****dovecot: dovecot: Fatal: Auth process died too 
early - shutting down

Now, I have gone through the config file (see below) trying various 
settings for auth including running it as root and as vmail.  I have 
tried a number of permutations for the permissions and ownership on the 
file specified above from 600 root -> 777 vmail and everything in 
between, yet always the same issue.  If I rename the file and try to 
start dovecot it notices that the file is missing and gives an 
appropriate error.  I cannot figure out how the permissions can be wrong 
on the file, I am starting to assume it is a problem elsewhere.  (One 
other note, I was initially getting an error regarding the rawlog 
permissions, and just removed the rawlog part of the IMAP config to work 
around that).

---cut---
*****:~ # l /etc/dovecot/
total 160
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root  4096 Apr  4 14:18 ./
drwxr-xr-x 98 root root 12288 Apr  4 17:41 ../
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 52110 Apr  4 14:18 dovecot.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 51576 Mar 16 13:31 dovecot.conf~
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   410 Feb 22 19:03 dovecot-db-example.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root   782 Feb 22 19:03 dovecot-dict-sql-example.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  4986 Feb 22 19:03 dovecot-ldap-example.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5589 Apr  4 13:25 dovecot-sql.backup
-rw-------  1 root root  5589 Mar 16 13:31 dovecot-sql.conf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  5097 Feb 22 19:03 dovecot-sql-example.conf
---cut---


---cut---
*****:~ # dovecot -n
# 1.2.16: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Error: setmntent(/etc/mtab) failed: Permission denied
# OS: Linux 2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop i686
log_timestamp: %Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S
protocols: imap imaps pop3 pop3s
ssl: no
disable_plaintext_auth: no
login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap-login
login_executable(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3-login
first_valid_uid: 5000
last_valid_uid: 5000
first_valid_gid: 5000
last_valid_gid: 5000
mail_location: maildir:/var/vmail/%d/%n/Maildir
mail_executable(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/imap
mail_executable(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/rawlog /usr/lib/dovecot/pop3
mail_plugins(default): quota imap_quota
mail_plugins(imap): quota imap_quota
mail_plugins(pop3): quota
mail_plugin_dir(default): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/imap
mail_plugin_dir(imap): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/imap
mail_plugin_dir(pop3): /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/pop3
lda:
   postmaster_address: postmaster at example.com
   mail_plugins: sieve quota
   mail_plugin_dir: /usr/lib/dovecot/modules/lda
   auth_socket_path: /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
auth default:
   mechanisms: plain login
   passdb:
     driver: pam
   passdb:
     driver: sql
     args: /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
   userdb:
     driver: passwd
   userdb:
     driver: sql
     args: /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
   socket:
     type: listen
     client:
       path: /var/spool/postfix/private/auth
       mode: 432
       user: postfix
       group: postfix
     master:
       path: /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
       mode: 384
       user: vmail
plugin:
   quota: maildir
   sieve: ~/.dovecot.sieve
   sieve_dir: ~/sieve
---cut---

I just noticed that setmntent error above, I havent seen that anywhere 
else previously.  Any help would be _greatly_ appreciated.

Sincerely,
Kevin M.