[Dovecot] dovecot as layer between postfix and thunderbird

[DormitionSkete@hotmail.com]

Dear Mr. Svensson,

For what it is worth, I recommend this approach:

1)  First off, I'd recommend you learn the difference between IMAP and POP3.  That's real important.

This might help:  http://www1.umn.edu/adcs/guides/email/imapvspop.html

Like Mr. Marcus said, Dovecot is first and foremost an IMAP server.

2)  Get Dovecot working so you can see the inbox and your folders *as an IMAP server* in Thunderbird.  

3)  If you have both Postfix and Sendmail installed, uninstall the one you are not going to use.

4)  Get Postfix (or Sendmail - not both!) and Dovecot working to the point where you can send and receive mail as localhost.  Oh, and don't be trying to put "smtp.live.com", for instance, in your Postfix or Sendmail config.  Just try to get it to work as localhost.  You won't ever actually need them in your Postfix or Sendmail config.  Postfix (or Sendmail) is only going to be delivering your emails from fetchmail to your Dovecot account(s).  

5)  Next, get it to where you can send mail from your gmail to your hotmail account, and vice verse.  Conceptual point here: you will be connecting into hotmail and gmail's server to actually send your mail.  Don't worry about seeing them in Thunderbird yet.  Log into your gmail and hotmail accounts via the web, and check them there.  

6)  If you get that far, let me know, and I'll be happy to help you with the fetchmail part, which retrieves the emails from hotmail and gmail, and I can also help you with a way to delete the messages from the server after they're retrieved, if you would like that, too.  (I think getmail can do this.  I've never used it.  Fetchmail won't - unless that's changed through the years.  But it can be done with other open source software.)

I will tell you, though, that I think you're creating a lot of work for yourself, and when it's all said and done, I think you will find it was not worth it.  Thunderbird does a decent enough job of handling hotmail accounts as it is.  I don't know about gmail.  I've never used it.  Don't want to.  

In looking for the link for step one, I found this, which you also might find helpful:

https://support.google.com/mail/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=ts.cs&ts=1668960&p=syncdmail

And that link also would lead me to believe that Thunderbird would do a decent enough job with gmail, too.

I hope this helps.

Peter, hieromonk

----
Dormition Skete
 Monastery Website:  http://www.DormitionSkete.org
 Convent Website:  http://www.HolyApostlesConvent.org
---- 



On Jan 5, 2013, at 6:24 AM, Charles Marcus wrote:

> On 2013-01-04 7:26 PM, martin svensson <zylorx at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Basically, i installed SMS, superb Mini Server (based on slackware), and with that default install i got: dovecot, postfix, fetchmail and sendmail.
> 
> Ummm... remove sendmail. You can't have two MTAs on the same machine unless you just really enjoy headaches and frustration.
> 
> Also, I'd recommend getmail over fetchmail, but fetchmail will work...
> 
>> The postfix part seems to work according to a "telnet localhost 25",
> 
> Maybe - or maybe it is sendmail you're talking to.
> 
> No way to tell without seeing logs of a telnet session.
> 
> Also, the above in no way proves a working/secure postfix setup. A LOT more information is needed, like config details (postconf -n output and maybe master.cf contents for starters) and logs of mail transactions...
> 
>> now i want to procede with dovecot, as i understand it, its the middle layer between (in my case) postfix and thunderbird.
> 
> Your understanding is flawed.
> 
> Dovecot is first and foremost an IMAP server, but also does POP3. It serves mail to email clients.
> 
> It can interact with an MTA (like postfix) for final delivery of email though.
> 
> It sounds to me like you really know very little about administering a mail server. Working with your own private server is a good way to start, but you need to be very careful - it is easy to make mistakes that will result in getting hacked/exploited (you could become a source of spam or backscatter), or make mistakes that lose mail (maybe not a big deal if it is your own private server and you are using unimportant domains/accounts for getting up to speed).
> 
> Charles
>