[Dovecot] dovecot as layer between postfix and thunderbird

[Charles Marcus]

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