[Dovecot] error when using dovecot-lda as non root (vmail) user

[Andreas Helmcke]

Hello,

after finally having managed to setup up dovecot with virtual users and
public folders I tried to get it connected to postfix.
The problem is, that I can't get postix to deliver mail via dovecot-lda.

After some testing it seems to come down to dovecot-lda behaving
different when called as root then when called as user vmail.

Basic setting:
- dovecot 2.1.1
- all mailboxes owned by user vmail (using mail_uid and mail_gid)

Test 1:
as user root:
/usr/libexec/dovecot/dovecot-lda -d ahelmcke < some_mail

working as expected; some_mail gets stored in users INBOX

Test 2:
same command executed as user vmail. dovecot-lda terminates immediately.

syslog-output with mail_debug = yes:
Test 1:
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda: Debug: auth input: ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Effective
uid=494, gid=491, home=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Namespace
inbox: type=private, prefix=INBOX/, sep=/, inbox=yes, hidden=no,
list=yes, subscriptions=yes location=maildir:/home/mail/user/ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir++:
root=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke, index=, control=,
inbox=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke, alt=
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Namespace
dummy: type=private, prefix=, sep=/, inbox=no, hidden=yes, list=no,
subscriptions=yes location=maildir:/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/public/
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir++:
root=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/public, index=, control=, inbox=, alt=
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Namespace
Allgemeines: type=public, prefix=Allgemeines/, sep=/, inbox=no,
hidden=no, list=yes, subscriptions=no
location=maildir:/home/mail/Allgemeines:INDEX=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/SEEN.Allgemeines
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir++:
root=/home/mail/Allgemeines,
index=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/SEEN.Allgemeines, control=, inbox=, alt=
Apr 19 16:38:04 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: none: root=,
index=, control=, inbox=, alt=
Apr 19 16:51:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Destination
address: ahelmcke at elablnmail02.ela-bln.local (source: user at hostname)
Apr 19 16:51:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): msgid=unspecified:
saved mail to INBOX


Test 2:
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda: Debug: auth input: ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Effective
uid=494, gid=491, home=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Namespace
inbox: type=private, prefix=INBOX/, sep=/, inbox=yes, hidden=no,
list=yes, subscriptions=yes location=maildir:/home/mail/user/ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir++:
root=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke, index=, control=,
inbox=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke, alt=
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Namespace
dummy: type=private, prefix=, sep=/, inbox=no, hidden=yes, list=no,
subscriptions=yes location=maildir:/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/public/
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir++:
root=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/public, index=, control=, inbox=, alt=
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: Namespace :
type=private, prefix=, sep=, inbox=no, hidden=no, list=yes,
subscriptions=yes location=
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mdbox:
access(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/mdbox, rwx): failed: No such file or
directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mdbox:
couldn't find root dir
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: sdbox:
access(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/sdbox, rwx): failed: No such file or
directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: sdbox:
couldn't find root dir
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir:
access(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/Maildir, rwx): failed: No such file or
directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: maildir:
couldn't find root dir
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox
autodetect: has .imap/: stat(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/mail/.imap) failed:
No such file or directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox
autodetect: has inbox: stat(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/mail/inbox) failed:
No such file or directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox
autodetect: has mbox: stat(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/mail/mbox) failed: No
such file or directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox
autodetect: has .imap/: stat(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/Mail/.imap) failed:
No such file or directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox
autodetect: has inbox: stat(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/Mail/inbox) failed:
No such file or directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox
autodetect: has mbox: stat(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/Mail/mbox) failed: No
such file or directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: mbox:
couldn't find root dir
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: sdbox:
access(/home/mail/user/ahelmcke/sdbox, rwx): failed: No such file or
directory
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Debug: sdbox:
couldn't find root dir
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Error: user
ahelmcke: Initialization failed: Namespace '': Mail storage autodetection
failed with home=/home/mail/user/ahelmcke
Apr 19 16:37:37 elablnmail02 dovecot: lda(ahelmcke): Fatal: Invalid user
settings. Refer to server log for more information.



doveconf -n

# 2.1.1: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6.x86_64 x86_64 CentOS release 6.2 (Final)
auth_master_user_separator = *
auth_verbose = yes
first_valid_uid = 400
mail_debug = yes
mail_gid = vmail
mail_home = /home/mail/user/%u
mail_uid = vmail
managesieve_notify_capability = mailto
managesieve_sieve_capability = fileinto reject envelope encoded-character
vacation subaddress comparator-i;ascii-numeric relational regex
imap4flags copy include variables body enotify environment mailbox date ihave
mbox_write_locks = fcntl
namespace Allgemeines {
  location =
maildir:/home/mail/Allgemeines:INDEX=/home/mail/user/%u/SEEN.Allgemeines
  prefix = Allgemeines/
  separator = /
  subscriptions = no
  type = public
}
namespace dummy {
  alias_for = INBOX/
  hidden = yes
  list = no
  location = maildir:/home/mail/user/%u/public/
  prefix =
  separator = /
  type = private
}
namespace inbox {
  inbox = yes
  location = maildir:/home/mail/user/%u
  prefix = INBOX/
  separator = /
  type = private
}
passdb {
  args = /etc/dovecot/passwd.masterusers
  driver = passwd-file
  master = yes
  pass = yes
}
passdb {
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap.conf
  driver = ldap
}
plugin {
  acl = vfile
  sieve = /home/mail/user/%u/sieve.active
  sieve_dir = /home/mail/user/%u/sieve.scripts
  sieve_global_dir = /var/lib/dovecot/sieve/global/
  sieve_global_path = /var/lib/dovecot/sieve/default.sieve
}
protocols = imap lmtp sieve
service auth {
  unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
    mode = 0666
  }
  unix_listener auth-userdb {
    mode = 0600
    user = vmail
  }
}
service imap-login {
  inet_listener imap {
    address = *
  }
  inet_listener imaps {
    address = *
  }
}
service managesieve-login {
  inet_listener sieve {
    address = *
    port = 4190
  }
}
ssl = required
ssl_cert = </etc/pki/dovecot/certs/mail.ela-soft.com.crt
ssl_key = </etc/pki/dovecot/private/mail.ela-soft.com.2048bit.nopp.key
userdb {
  args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-ldap.conf
  driver = ldap
}
protocol lmtp {
  mail_plugins = " sieve"
}

Any ideas?

Greetings
   Andreas