dovecot unable to create files in /var/mail

Bug #1393403 reported by Andy
10
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
dovecot (Debian)
New
Unknown
dovecot (Ubuntu)
Triaged
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

User dovecot is not part of the mail group, so cannot create files in /var/mail

Ubuntu server 14.04.1 new install
dovecot installed from tasksel
dovecot-imapd package version 2.2.9-1ubuntu2.1
same version for dovecot-core

Revision history for this message
Andy (u-andy) wrote :

The fix is to add postfix to the mail group in /etc/group
For example

mail:x:8:postfix

However this should be done by the package install script

Andy (u-andy)
no longer affects: postfix (Ubuntu)
summary: - postfix unable to create files in /var/mail
+ dovecot unable to create files in /var/mail
description: updated
Revision history for this message
Andy (u-andy) wrote :

I meant dovecot, not postfix. My bad.

Working on too many systems at once.

Changed in dovecot (Debian):
status: Unknown → New
Revision history for this message
Robie Basak (racb) wrote :

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

Importance -> Medium as there is a workaround available.

Without further research I can't confirm that this is definitely the right thing to do by default for all users. Unfortunately this is a change that can't be unwound easily, so I'd really prefer to see the bug resolved in Debian first unless it can be confirmed for certain that this is the right thing to do in Ubuntu. I'll add this to the server team's backlog, but I'm not sure we'll get to it soon.

Changed in dovecot (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Medium
Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Some additional research that touches on this same problem in Ubuntu:

https://www.softprayog.in/troubleshooting/dovecot-imap-error-open-var-mail-username-failed
https://wiki2.dovecot.org/MailLocation/mbox#A.2BAC8-var.2BAC8-mail.2BAC8_dotlocks
https://serverfault.com/questions/814398/dovecot-missing-w-perm-var-mail-were-not-in-group-8mail
https://askubuntu.com/questions/118416/dovecot-cant-compact-mail-folder-var-mail-username

There are a few different ways to set up where Dovecot delivers emails, but /var/mail is one of the more standard locations and perhaps configuring for it should be made more streamlined. I agree with Robie that this work would best be done upstream.

The workarounds are pretty widely documented, so I also agree with him this is not urgent to fix, and should remain in the backlog for now.

tags: added: server-next
Bryce Harrington (bryce)
Changed in dovecot (Ubuntu):
status: New → Triaged
Revision history for this message
Bryce Harrington (bryce) wrote :

Dropping server-next tag. There are multiple ways to address this, and we prefer to see Debian set the direction for it.

tags: removed: server-next
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