dovecot doesn't see my mails ?

[Dave Myers]

Dear dovecot users.

I have an odd issue in that when I connect to my dovecot server from 
either a local or remote system I can't see my test emails (I have the 
impression that is is looking at the wrong location on disk).

here are some details....

# dovecot -n
# 2.1.7: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 2.6.32-5-xen-amd64 x86_64 Debian 6.0.3
auth_debug = yes
auth_debug_passwords = yes
auth_mechanisms = plain login cram-md5
auth_verbose = yes
auth_verbose_passwords = plain
lda_mailbox_autocreate = yes
log_path = /var/log/dovecot.log
mail_debug = yes
mail_gid = 1002
mail_home = /var/mail/virtual/%d/%n
mail_location = maildir:~/mail/:
mail_uid = 1002
namespace inbox {
   inbox = yes
   location =
   mailbox Drafts {
     special_use = \Drafts
   }
   mailbox Junk {
     special_use = \Junk
   }
   mailbox Sent {
     special_use = \Sent
   }
   mailbox "Sent Messages" {
     special_use = \Sent
   }
   mailbox Trash {
     special_use = \Trash
   }
   prefix =
}
passdb {
   args = scheme=SHA512-CRYPT username_format=%u /etc/dovecot/users
   driver = passwd-file
}
protocols = imap
service auth {
   unix_listener auth-client {
     mode = 0660
     user = mail
   }
}
service imap-login {
   inet_listener imap {
     port = 143
   }
   inet_listener imaps {
     port = 993
     ssl = yes
   }
}
ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/dovecot.pem
ssl_key = </etc/dovecot/private/dovecot.pem
userdb {
   args = username_format=%u /etc/dovecot/users
   driver = passwd-file
}
userdb {
   driver = passwd
}
verbose_ssl = yes

when I connect (via openSSL from a remote system)

openssl s_client -connect mail.exsportee.biz:993
CONNECTED(00000003)
depth=0 C = fr, ST = coupvray, L = paris, O = exsportee, OU = facilitee, 
CN = scibearspace, emailAddress = david.myers at scibearspace.org
verify error:num=18:self signed certificate
verify return:1
depth=0 C = fr, ST = coupvray, L = paris, O = exsportee, OU = facilitee, 
CN = scibearspace, emailAddress = david.myers at scibearspace.org
verify return:1
[.... security stuff removed....]
* OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 LITERAL+ SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE 
IDLE AUTH=PLAIN AUTH=LOGIN AUTH=CRAM-MD5] Dovecot ready.
auth login "websales at exsportee.biz" "testPassword"
auth OK [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 LITERAL+ SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE 
IDLE SORT SORT=DISPLAY THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=REFS MULTIAPPEND 
UNSELECT CHILDREN NAMESPACE UIDPLUS LIST-EXTENDED I18NLEVEL=1 CONDSTORE 
QRESYNC ESEARCH ESORT SEARCHRES WITHIN CONTEXT=SEARCH LIST-STATUS 
SPECIAL-USE] Logged in
a list "" "*"
* LIST (\HasNoChildren) "." "INBOX"
a OK List completed.
a select INBOX
* FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft)
* OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Seen \Draft \*)] 
Flags permitted.
* 0 EXISTS
* 0 RECENT
* OK [UIDVALIDITY 1411042633] UIDs valid
* OK [UIDNEXT 1] Predicted next UID
* OK [NOMODSEQ] No permanent modsequences
a OK [READ-WRITE] Select completed.

So I seem to have no mails in the inbox... so I check the dovecot log 
for the where it thinks it should be looking for the mail

Sep 19 07:37:59 imap-login: Info: Login: user=<websales at exsportee.biz>, 
method=PLAIN, rip=85.170.90.200, lip=92.39.247.92, mpid=26570, TLS, 
session=<Cf4uLmYDlgBVqlrI>
Sep 19 07:37:59 imap(websales at exsportee.biz): Debug: Effective uid=1002, 
gid=1002, home=/var/mail/virtual/exsportee.biz/websales
Sep 19 07:37:59 imap(websales at exsportee.biz): Debug: Namespace inbox: 
type=private, prefix=, sep=, inbox=yes, hidden=no, list=yes, 
subscriptions=yes location=maildir:~/mail/:
Sep 19 07:37:59 imap(websales at exsportee.biz): Debug: maildir++: 
root=/var/mail/virtual/exsportee.biz/websales/mail, index=, control=, 
inbox=/var/mail/virtual/exsportee.biz/websales/mail, alt=

So I can see that the directories that Dovecot is looking at are:
home=/var/mail/virtual/exsportee.biz/websales
location=maildir:~/mail/

So if I understand, dovecot is looking at  [ 
/var/mail/virtual/exsportee.biz/websales/mail/ ] for my mail. When I run 
a listing of the directory I get the following....

# ls -al /var/mail/virtual/exsportee.biz/websales/mail/
total 44
drwx--S--- 5 vmail vmail 4096 Sep 18 12:46 .
drwxr-sr-x 3 vmail vmail 4096 Sep 18 12:00 ..
drwx--S--- 2 vmail vmail 4096 Sep 18 12:17 cur
-rw------- 1 vmail vmail  248 Sep 18 12:23 dovecot.index.log
-rw------- 1 vmail vmail   51 Sep 18 12:23 dovecot-uidlist
-rw------- 1 vmail vmail    8 Sep 18 12:17 dovecot-uidvalidity
-r--r--r-- 1 vmail vmail    0 Sep 18 12:17 dovecot-uidvalidity.541acd49
drwx--S--- 2 vmail vmail 4096 Sep 18 12:17 new
-rw------- 1 vmail vmail  561 Sep 18 12:22 q1XUaj8-5382575
-rw------- 1 vmail vmail  517 Sep 18 12:00 q1XUaOD-5382570
-rw------- 1 vmail vmail  513 Sep 18 12:46 q1XUb60-5382584
drwx--S--- 2 vmail vmail 4096 Sep 18 12:17 tmp

the 3 files q1xu[....] are test mails that I sent to myself, either 
internally from the localhost CLI, mutt or from my google mail account.
I should note the following:
~ SWAKS can send mails out to external addresses also.
~ I cannot connect to my mail from any external clients (thunderbird)
~ I cannot connect to my mail localy using MUTT
~ I use exim4 (v4.7.2) as my MTA (if you want to see a config just ask).

please help me resolve these issues.

thanks in advance.

David

-- 
Tel:
   + 33 6 50 14 39 34

email:
   david.myers.24j74 at gmail.com

Addres:
    22 Rue de L'Eglise 77700 Coupvray.
    77700
    France