Mail Processing Questions

[drewishus]

Hi Everyone,
I'm sorry to dump these questions out there, but I've been scouring the forums looking for answers with little to no luck, so I'm hoping someone can help me sort a few things out.
I've got a FC5 box running exim + Spamblocker 2 + SA with Openwebmail as one of the webmail programs.
Problem is:
Openwebmail (the current version) doesn't support maildir, so i can not upgrade to Spamblocker3. Since I've got a lot of users relying on Openwebmail, I'm not in a hurry to make the jump from mbox to maildir in order to support SB3.
Now, I've used the mb2md utility to changeover some mbox files, but I cannot figure out how to get Squirrelmail, for example, to realize that I want it to use maildir. Where does it look for Maildir? Do I have to change something to get it to find the /home/user/imap/Maildir conversion I created? If I delete the old mbox file, I have no inbox.
Since I can't get this to work easily, I'm hesitant to continue with the conversion. So my questions are:
1) Doesn't Exim control the delivery of incoming mail to the user mail file(s)?
2) How/Why does changing to Dovecot alter that mbox behavior of Exim's delivery?
3) Where does Exim store these new maildir files?
4) I've heard a lot of grumbling about Dovecot, it it ready for primetime, or does it introduce more problems than it's worth?
5) Is there any way to designate certain users who would still prefer their incoming mail to mbox files so they could continue to use Openwebmail? Or does anyone have any clever ideas about a script or something that could take the maildir files and convert them to an mbox file or something along those lines?
Sorry to dump all this out there, but I've got to do something about the amount of spam that is getting through SpamBlocker and SpamAssassin at this point.
Looking forward to your ideas!
Thanks,

AC

 

[nobaloney]

Problem is:
Openwebmail (the current version) doesn't support maildir, so i can not upgrade to Spamblocker3.
If Open WebMail suports either POP or IMAP then it shouldn't matter to it if you use Maildir or not; it uses POP and/or IMAP to manage email.

Since I've got a lot of users relying on Openwebmail, I'm not in a hurry to make the jump from mbox to maildir in order to support SB3.

It really shouldn't be an issue. From where do you get the understanding that if you switch to Maildir then Open WebMail will no longer work?

Now, I've used the mb2md utility to changeover some mbox files, but I cannot figure out how to get Squirrelmail, for example, to realize that I want it to use maildir. Where does it look for Maildir?

Squirrelmail manages mailboxes through IMAP; changing mailboxes from mbox to Maildir alone doesn't change IMAP's ability to look there automatically. You need to use an IMAP daemon (DirectAdmin uses/supports Dovecot) that knows to use the Maildir folders, and they need to be where Dovecot expects them.

Do I have to change something to get it to find the /home/user/imap/Maildir conversion I created? If I delete the old mbox file, I have no inbox.

Probably because you're still using the old IMAP daemon, and also because you haven't made the changes to the exim.conf file to deliver to Maildir.

Since I can't get this to work easily, I'm hesitant to continue with the conversion. So my questions are:
1) Doesn't Exim control the delivery of incoming mail to the user mail file(s)?
2) How/Why does changing to Dovecot alter that mbox behavior of Exim's delivery?
3) Where does Exim store these new maildir files?

All of the above just works if you use the Dovecot conversion as written by DirectAdmin staff and documented in these forums.

4) I've heard a lot of grumbling about Dovecot, it it ready for primetime, or does it introduce more problems than it's worth?

I don't know where you've heard the grumbling. Our experience is that it solves every problem we've had and doesn't introduce any. If you've heard/read otherwise please post examples.

5) Is there any way to designate certain users who would still prefer their incoming mail to mbox files so they could continue to use Openwebmail?

Short answer: No. Long answer: You can certainly create your own delivery options inside a custom exim.conf file to deliver to mbox for some users; to Maildir for others. But Dovecot won't manage both at the same time; you'll have to run two separate imap daemons, on two separate ports, and somehow make a change to Open WebMail to use a different port for imap.
But ... as I wrote above, Open WebMail really should work with Dovecot; it shouldn't care about the mailbox format at all, since it relies on Imap for that.

Or does anyone have any clever ideas about a script or something that could take the maildir files and convert them to an mbox file or something along those lines?

Shouldn't need to; see above.

Sorry to dump all this out there, but I've got to do something about the amount of spam that is getting through SpamBlocker and SpamAssassin at this point.

I think you're making it more complex than it is. If you're not comfortable making the change, then I think you're making it more complex than it is, but perhaps you'd feel more comfortable hiring us or someone else to do the change for you.

Jeff

 

[drewishus]

Bing!

Jeff, thank you for your response, somehow I knew it would be you that answered my post :^)
Well, right now Openwebmail doesn't use POP3 or IMAP, it actually pulls directly from the spool file in /var/spool/virtual, bypassing the more traditional ways webmail programs grab new mail.
But you bring up some great points. I was kinda not thinking about this clearly.
I will look into ways to force the client into pulling via POP3 instead, that would, as you pointed out, free me up to migrate to dovecot and move on with my life (and hopefully less spam). I'm not sure how that will change things, but we'll find out!
Thanks for the encouragement regarding Dovecot. I know you're using it extensively, so I hope to have the same luck you have.
Thanks, I'll let you all know how it goes!

AC