Localhost imap server fails after upgrade from 2.2.33.2-1 to 1:2.3.2.1 (fwd)

Chris BL cpblpublic+dovecot at gmail.com
Mon Dec 31 23:45:06 EET 2018


Hi Aki,

Bingo! Putting that line in dovecot.conf rather than my custom file, and 
then using my old custom file, unchanged, from Alpine works perfectly.

My only remaining question, then, would be ... what was this (change) 
about / or is there any documentation that I should/could have read to 
know what to do without asking a lead developer?

Thank you very much.

 I hope you had a great start to the New Year!

Happy 2019,
Chris


On Mon, 31 Dec 2018, Aki Tuomi wrote:

> If your client directly executes imap binary, it is not mandatory for dovecot to be running, but you need to put the service section into /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf and restart the dovecot service.
> 
> Putting it to your local config file does not affect the global service.
> 
> Aki
> 
> > On 31 December 2018 at 22:16 Chris BL <cpblpublic+dovecot at gmail.com> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > Hi Aki,
> > 
> > I am not 100% sure.  I do not really know what my OS does. "ps -A" says 
> > dovecot is running, but if I say "sudo service dovecot stop", my email 
> > client works fine still (that is, assuming the old version of dovecot is 
> > installed). ie the on-demand instances of dovecot-imapd that Alpine calls 
> > are, I assume, started and stopped by Alpine. (?)
> > 
> >  Is my OS using dovecot for other stuff, like managing system mail (e.g. 
> > root's reports of cron jobs, which still go to /var/mail, but I never read 
> > them)?  I am not certain.  But I believed that any other use of dovecot 
> > would be using a different .conf file, so I was hoping I just had to know 
> > how to make my custom one (-c flag) work.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Chris
> > 
> > 
> > On Mon, 31 Dec 2018, Aki Tuomi wrote:
> > 
> > > Am I assuming correctly that you are not, in fact, running anything but imap process from Dovecot?
> > > 
> > > Aki
> > > 
> > > > On 31 December 2018 at 18:35 Chris BL <cpblpublic+dovecot at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Hi Aki,
> > > > 
> > > > Oops; I did not think carefully enough about your instructions. Here is the output from
> > > > 
> > > > $ dovecot -n -c /home/meuser/dotfiles/auto-stanford-dovecot.conf
> > > > 
> > > > # 2.3.2.1 (0719df592): /home/meuser/dotfiles/auto-stanford-dovecot.conf
> > > > # Pigeonhole version 0.5.2 ()
> > > > # OS: Linux 4.18.0-13-generic x86_64 Ubuntu 18.10 ext4
> > > > # Hostname: cpbl-t450s
> > > > doveconf: Warning: please set ssl_dh=</etc/dovecot/dh.pem
> > > > doveconf: Warning: You can generate it with: dd if=/var/lib/dovecot/ssl-parameters.dat bs=1 skip=88 | openssl dhparam -inform der > /etc/dovecot/dh.pem
> > > > mail_location = maildir:/home/meuser/imap/gmailStanford:LAYOUT=fs:INBOX=/home/meuser/imap/gmailStanford/INBOX
> > > > service stats {
> > > >   unix_listener stats-writer {
> > > >     mode = 0666
> > > >   }
> > > > }
> > > > ssl_dh =  # hidden, use -P to show it
> > > > verbose_proctitle = yes
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > I then followed the instructions in the Warning lines above and now I get:
> > > > 
> > > >  dovecot -n -c /home/meuser/dotfiles/auto-stanford-dovecot.conf
> > > > # 2.3.2.1 (0719df592): /home/meuser/dotfiles/auto-stanford-dovecot.conf
> > > > # Pigeonhole version 0.5.2 ()
> > > > # OS: Linux 4.18.0-13-generic x86_64 Ubuntu 18.10 ext4
> > > > # Hostname: cpbl-t450s
> > > > mail_location = maildir:/home/meuser/imap/gmailStanford:LAYOUT=fs:INBOX=/home/meuser/imap/gmailStanford/INBOX
> > > > service stats {
> > > >   unix_listener stats-writer {
> > > >     mode = 0666
> > > >   }
> > > > }
> > > > ssl_dh =  # hidden, use -P to show it
> > > > verbose_proctitle = yes
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > However, this does not help my primary symptom:
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > $ /usr/lib/dovecot/imap -c /home/meuser/dotfiles/auto-stanford-dovecot.conf
> > > > imap(meuser,)Error: net_connect_unix(/var/run/dovecot/stats-writer) failed: Permission denied
> > > > * PREAUTH [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE SORT SORT=DISPLAY THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=REFS THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT MULTIAPPEND URL-PARTIAL CATENATE UNSELECT CHILDREN NAMESPACE
> > > > UIDPLUS LIST-EXTENDED I18NLEVEL=1 CONDSTORE QRESYNC ESEARCH ESORT SEARCHRES WITHIN CONTEXT=SEARCH LIST-STATUS BINARY MOVE SNIPPET=FUZZY LITERAL+ NOTIFY] Logged in as meuser
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks!
> > > > Chris
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > On Mon, Dec 31, 2018 at 10:27 AM Aki Tuomi <aki.tuomi at open-xchange.com> wrote:
> > > >       Did you remove the service section before taking doveconf -n? 'cos I can't see it here..
> > > > 
> > > >       Also, did you restart dovecot after config change?
> > > > 
> > > >       Aki
> > > > 
> > > >       > On 31 December 2018 at 16:54 Chris BL <cpblpublic+dovecot at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >       >
> > > >       >
> > > >       > Hi Aki,
> > > >       >
> > > >       > Yes, the same connect error: imap(meuser,)Error: net_connect_unix(/var/run/dovecot/stats-writer) failed: Permission denied
> > > >       >
> > > >       > The mail location in "doveconf -n" (belo) does not reflect my preferences.
> > > >       >
> > > >       > In Alpine, if I acknowledge the error I get, which tells me to add
> > > >       > novalidate-cert in my pinerc file, it prompts me for my POSIX username and
> > > >       > password.  After that, I get my /var/spool/mail inbox, which is not what I
> > > >       > want.
> > > >       >
> > > >       >
> > > >       > doveconf -n
> > > >       > # 2.3.2.1 (0719df592): /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
> > > >       > # Pigeonhole version 0.5.2 ()
> > > >       > # OS: Linux 4.18.0-13-generic x86_64 Ubuntu 18.10
> > > >       > # Hostname: myhost-t450s
> > > >       > mail_location = mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/%u
> > > >       > mail_privileged_group = mail
> > > >       > 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 {
> > > >       >   driver = pam
> > > >       > }
> > > >       > protocols = " imap"
> > > >       > ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/private/dovecot.pem
> > > >       > ssl_client_ca_dir = /etc/ssl/certs
> > > >       > ssl_dh =  # hidden, use -P to show it
> > > >       > ssl_key =  # hidden, use -P to show it
> > > >       > userdb {
> > > >       >   driver = passwd
> > > >       > }
> > > >       >
> > > >       >
> > > >       >
> > > >       > On Mon, 31 Dec 2018, Aki Tuomi wrote:
> > > >       >
> > > >       > > You are still getting the connect error?
> > > >       > >
> > > >       > > Can you share your doveconf -n?
> > > >       > >
> > > >       > > Aki
> > > >       > >
> > > >       > > > On 31 December 2018 at 16:42 cpblpublic+dovecot at gmail.com wrote:
> > > >       > > >
> > > >       > > >
> > > >       > > > Hi Aki,
> > > >       > > >
> > > >       > > > Thanks. I put that in the .conf file I mentioned, and it made no
> > > >       > > > difference.
> > > >       > > >
> > > >       > > > Chris
> > > >       > > >
> > > >       > > > > Hi!
> > > >       > > > >
> > > >       > > > > In your case it's probably easiest to change
> > > >       > > > >
> > > >       > > > > service stats {
> > > >       > > > >   unix_listener stats-writer {
> > > >       > > > >      mode = 0666
> > > >       > > > >   }
> > > >       > > > > }
> > > >       > > > >
> > > >       > > > > Aki
> > > >       > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > On 31 December 2018 at 16:05 cpblpublic+dovecot at gmail.com wrote:
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > I use a localhost dovecot imap server in order to access maildir folders from Alpine (see 2009 instructions for my set up here
> > > >       > > > > > https://cpbl.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/alpine-offlineimap-and-gmail-under-ubuntu/ )
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > My configuration has worked nicely since 2009, but failed after a recent upgrade of dovecot (during basic upgrade from Ubuntu 18.04 to 18.10).
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > The version of Alpine did not change. Uninstalling dovecot-core and dovecot-imapd, and reinstalling the older versions, fully fixes the problem.
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > I would like to know how to get my configuration working with the new version of dovecot.
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > Here's what the problem looks like:
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > I have a file auto-dovecot.conf with only the following two lines.
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > verbose_proctitle = yes
> > > >       > > > > > mail_location = maildir:/home/meuser/imap/gmailStanford:LAYOUT=fs:INBOX=/home/meuser/imap/gmailStanford/INBOX
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > Other /etc/ files are unchanged from installation defaults.
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > Alpine calls imapd when it starts, with the following command:
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > /usr/lib/dovecot/imap -c /home/meuser/dotfiles/auto-dovecot.conf
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > When I run that command, I get:
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > imap(meuser,)Error: net_connect_unix(/var/run/dovecot/stats-writer) failed: Permission denied
> > > >       > > > > > * PREAUTH [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE IDLE
> > > >       > > > > > SORT SORT=DISPLAY THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=REFS THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT
> > > >       > > > > > MULTIAPPEND URL-PARTIAL CATENATE UNSELECT CHILDREN NAMESPACE UIDPLUS
> > > >       > > > > > LIST-EXTENDED I18NLEVEL=1 CONDSTORE QRESYNC ESEARCH ESORT SEARCHRES WITHIN
> > > >       > > > > > CONTEXT=SEARCH LIST-STATUS BINARY MOVE SNIPPET=FUZZY LITERAL+ NOTIFY]
> > > >       > > > > > Logged in as meuser
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > so I am guessing that the first line is the issue, since when the older version I get instead:
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > * PREAUTH [CAPABILITY IMAP4rev1 LITERAL+ SASL-IR LOGIN-REFERRALS ID ENABLE
> > > >       > > > > > IDLE SORT SORT=DISPLAY THREAD=REFERENCES THREAD=REFS THREAD=ORDEREDSUBJECT
> > > >       > > > > > MULTIAPPEND URL-PARTIAL CATENATE UNSELECT CHILDREN NAMESPACE UIDPLUS
> > > >       > > > > > LIST-EXTENDED I18NLEVEL=1 CONDSTORE QRESYNC ESEARCH ESORT SEARCHRES WITHIN
> > > >       > > > > > CONTEXT=SEARCH LIST-STATUS BINARY MOVE] Logged in as meuser
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > Can anyone help me? I cannot find documentation for using a localhost server for Alpine, except my own from 2009.
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > Many thanks!
> > > >       > > > > >
> > > >       > > > > > Chris
> > > >       > > > >
> > > >       > >
> > > >
> > >
> 


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