[Dovecot] Mailbox conversion/importing

[Frerich Raabe]

Hi Robert,

On Jun 10, 2013, at 8:23 AM, Robert Brockway <robert at timetraveller.org> wrote:
> I've done a variety of mail migrations over the years, including some that were quite large (hundreds of thousands of accounts).  I looked at a few options when doing the first one and ended up concluding that pop/imap was the best way to go.  A specialised migration tool must be less tested (and perhaps more buggy) than pop/imap servers that are in use around the world constantly.  By using pop/imap proxies we were able to do migrations that were completely transparent to users.

I think this sounds very plausible - can you maybe elaborate a bit on how you did this exactly?

Would you say that it even makes sense to use a proxy-based migration if you're moving from one Dovecot installation (serving just IMAP) to another?

I'm just asking because I'm planning to replace a FreeBSD-based Dovecot setup (serving just IMAP) to Debian. I already have the Debian system set up, but I'm still undecided how to do the move in a way which is a) preferrably transparent to users and b) possibly even allows me to quickly switch back to the old system again, just in case.

-- 
Frerich Raabe - raabe at froglogic.com
www.froglogic.com - Multi-Platform GUI Testing