Copying from a previous Dovecot server

[Steffen Kaiser]

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On Tue, 30 Oct 2018, Peter Lindgren wrote:

> Hello!
> I have installed a new dovecot server on a new server, using imap and 
> Maildir.
> The old Maildirs are accessible on a mounted disk.
> I have tried to copy a few folders manually, by first creating the folder on 
> the new server through the a-mail client, and then copying the contents of 
> the cur folder from the old to the new. Works fine, but is a manual process. 
> I'm looking for a way to script this.

if you do not change the names of the mailboxes, copy the whole Maildir 
directory from old to new. Dovecot updates all files. At the first access 
of a mailbox, you probably see a "broken" warning and the repair takes 
place.

The warning and repair can probably be forced by doveadm index.

If you already added ACLs or something like that, you probably need to 
backup some files from the new Maildir.

> Is it safe to copy a template folder to a new folder, and then copy the cur 
> folder contents? The files that Dovecot creates in an empty folder have 
> different contents, will Dovecot update them when the user retrieves the 
> mails in that folder?
>
> Or, can I just make a symlink to the old Maildir somewhere?
>
> Peter
>

- -- 
Steffen Kaiser
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