[Dovecot] dovecot/log not running

[Mark Hinch]

I'm running 2.1.7 as downloaded/installed by Debian (and
then appropriately setup for my config, ...). It almost
works. I can send/receive email from thunderbird, squirrelmail, ...
However there are two anomalies:
1.  dovecot/log is not running. After restarting dovecot (and waiting
30 seconds), I have this in the log files:

Sep  6 17:42:16 hinch4 dovecot: master: Dovecot v2.1.7 starting up (core 
dumps disabled)
Sep  6 17:42:56 hinch4 dovecot: master: Error: service(anvil): Initial 
status notification not received in 30 seconds, killing the process
Sep  6 17:42:56 hinch4 dovecot: master: Error: service(log): Initial 
status notification not received in 30 seconds, killing the process
Sep  6 17:42:56 hinch4 dovecot: master: Error: service(ssl-params): 
Initial status notification not received in 30 seconds, killing the process
Sep  6 17:42:56 hinch4 dovecot: master: Error: service(log): child 31286 
killed with signal 9

After 30 seconds, a "ps -ef | grep dovecot" yields:

dovenull  1858 20223  0 18:56 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
root      1859 20223  0 18:56 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/auth -w
mhinch    1860 20223  0 18:56 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap
root      1862 14520  0 18:56 pts/3    00:00:00 grep dovecot
root     20223     1  0 18:54 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/dovecot -c 
/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
dovenull 25144 20223  0 18:55 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
dovecot  25147 20223  0 18:55 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/anvil
root     25148 20223  0 18:55 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/config
dovecot  25161 20223  0 18:55 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/auth
root     25174 20223  0 18:55 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/ssl-params
mhinch   25208 20223  0 18:55 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap

Seems like everything is there except dovecot/log.  ssl-params and anvil 
came back (?!?).
A  "doveadm log find" dumps this in the log:
Sep  6 18:52:24 hinch4 dovecot: doveadm: Debug: This is Dovecot's debug 
log (1346975543)
Sep  6 18:52:24 hinch4 dovecot: doveadm: This is Dovecot's info log 
(1346975543)
Sep  6 18:52:24 hinch4 dovecot: doveadm: Warning: This is Dovecot's 
warning log (1346975543)
Sep  6 18:52:24 hinch4 dovecot: doveadm: Error: This is Dovecot's error 
log (1346975543)
Sep  6 18:52:24 hinch4 dovecot: doveadm: Fatal: This is Dovecot's fatal 
log (1346975543)

However, further debugging that I try to do (see next problem) does not 
result in ANY
further input to the log files, even though I have all known logging 
turned on. So I *think*
that logging is not actually running. If I can get that started, then 
I'll take a crack at the
next problem myself ...

2. However, as long as I have your attention, my next problem is that it
seems like dovecot/imap-login hangs(?). After a few hours, I have 
something like:

# ps -ef | grep dovecot
dovecot    530 31186  0 18:49 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/auth
root     13277 31186  0 17:47 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/config
dovenull 13664 31186  0 18:44 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
root     20207 14520  0 18:54 pts/3    00:00:00 grep dovecot
dovenull 27599 31186  0 18:45 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
dovenull 27601 31186  0 18:45 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
dovenull 27603 31186  0 18:45 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
dovenull 27607 31186  0 18:45 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/imap-login
root     31186     1  0 17:42 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/dovecot -c 
/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
dovecot  31289 31186  0 17:42 ?        00:00:00 dovecot/anvil

with exactly 100 imap-login processes. I'm the only meaningful user
on the machine (unless somebody is imap DoS-ing me), so this does not
make much sense. Obviously thunderbird is polling the machine and each
time is leaving around a imap-log process. As far as I can tell, thunderbird
successfully logs in (i.e., I get mail) though I can't be sure whether these
are successful logins or not (no logging!). What hangs imap-log 
processes for hours at a time?
After a while of course, dovecot will not start any new imap-login processes
so Thunderbird cannot get any more mail until I restart
dovecot. Then everything is OK for another 12 hours or so.

Ideas on either problem?

-Mark