Allow to extend mail_plugins via extra.conf

[santo74]

Summary

As per the documentation you shouldn't change the dovecot.conf file directly but instead put your modifications in a file extra.conf

However, this doesn't work when you need to extend the mail_plugins (see below for more details)

Motivation

Extending the mail_plugins variable is necessary when you want to make use of the dovecot virtual plugin, e.g. in order to define a virtual "All Mail" folder or any other virtual folder for that matter.

Right now, to get this working, you need to modify the dovecot.conf file directly which isn't in line with the recommendations because it can be overwritten after an update.

Additional context

Adding

mail_plugins = $mail_plugins virtual

in extra.conf should append the "virtual" plugin to the default list of plugins defined in dovecot.conf, but instead it results in the following error:

mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1  | doveconf: Warning: /etc/dovecot/extra.conf line 2: Global setting mail_plugins won't change the setting inside an earlier filter at /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181 (if this is intentional, avoid this warning by moving the global setting before /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181)

mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1  | doveconf: Warning: /etc/dovecot/extra.conf line 2: Global setting mail_plugins won't change the setting inside an earlier filter at /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181 (if this is intentional, avoid this warning by moving the global setting before /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181)

mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1  | doveconf: Warning: /etc/dovecot/extra.conf line 2: Global setting mail_plugins won't change the setting inside an earlier filter at /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181 (if this is intentional, avoid this warning by moving the global setting before /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181)

mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1  | doveconf: Warning: /etc/dovecot/extra.conf line 2: Global setting mail_plugins won't change the setting inside an earlier filter at /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181 (if this is intentional, avoid this warning by moving the global setting before /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181)

mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1  | doveconf: Warning: /etc/dovecot/extra.conf line 2: Global setting mail_plugins won't change the setting inside an earlier filter at /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181 (if this is intentional, avoid this warning by moving the global setting before /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181)

mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1  | doveconf: Warning: /etc/dovecot/extra.conf line 2: Global setting mail_plugins won't change the setting inside an earlier filter at /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181 (if this is intentional, avoid this warning by moving the global setting before /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf line 181

[DerLinkman]

That is actually more a bug then a enhancement as this should not behave like this.

[santo74]

Thanks for confirming the issue.
Any chance this will be fixed in the next release?

[DerLinkman]

Nope the next release is frozen already. January at earliest then

[milkmaker]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.

[santo74]

What's the status of this?

[jol64]

@santo74
I´d be interested in the virtual All folder as well. Are you willing to share your configuration here or via the community?

[santo74]

@jol64 here are my notes regarding enabling a virtual "All Mail" folder.
Good luck ( (they worked for me)

1/ Enable "virtual" plugin

vi /opt/mailcow-dockerized/data/conf/dovecot/dovecot.conf

Default

Replace

mail_plugins = </etc/dovecot/mail_plugins

with

## Enable virtual folders:
#mail_plugins = </etc/dovecot/mail_plugins
mail_plugins = quota acl zlib mail_crypt mail_crypt_acl mail_log notify listescape replication lazy_expunge virtual

IMAP

Replace

protocol imap {
  mail_plugins = </etc/dovecot/mail_plugins_imap
  imap_metadata = yes
}

with

protocol imap {
  ## Enable virtual folders:
  #mail_plugins = </etc/dovecot/mail_plugins_imap
  mail_plugins = quota imap_quota imap_acl acl zlib imap_zlib imap_sieve mail_crypt mail_crypt_acl notify listescape replication mail_log virtual
  imap_metadata = yes
}

LMTP

Replace

protocol lmtp {
  mail_plugins = </etc/dovecot/mail_plugins_lmtp
  auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
}

with

protocol lmtp {
  ## Enable virtual folders:
  #mail_plugins = </etc/dovecot/mail_plugins_lmtp
  mail_plugins = quota sieve acl zlib mail_crypt mail_crypt_acl notify listescape replication virtual
  auth_socket_path = /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
}

Note

Normally you should override the mail_plugins in a separate file extra.conf in the same directory, but this doesn't work for extending the mail_plugins variable.

Therefore you should always have a backup copy of the dovecot.conf file in case the above changes get overridden by a future mailcow update.

2/ Define virtual namespace and "All Mail" mailbox

vi /opt/mailcow-dockerized/data/conf/dovecot/extra.conf

## Enable virtual folders:
## NOTE:
## Currently (2024-12-12) the next line doesn't work, as reported here: https://github.com/mailcow/mailcow-dockerized/issues/6207
## Workaround: redefine mail_plugins in dovecot.conf instead
#mail_plugins = $mail_plugins virtual

namespace virtual {
        prefix = Virtual/
        separator = /
        type = private
        hidden = yes            # no output in NAMESPACE command
        list = yes              # output in INBOX (parent) LIST command
        subscriptions = no      # store subscriptions in parent namespace
        location = virtual:/var/vmail/_virtual:INDEX=~/virtual

        mailbox "All Mail" {
                auto = subscribe
                special_use = \All
        }
}

3/ Create the necessary folders and files

Create virtual "All Mail" folder

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 mkdir -p /var/vmail/_virtual/All\ Mail

Create configuration file for virtual "All Mail" folder

First find the correct docker data volume where the mail is stored

docker inspect mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 | grep "mailcowdockerized_vmail-vol-1"

Now switch to the local folder where that docker volume is stored
(use the value of "source" from the output above)

cd /zpool/docker/volumes/mailcowdockerized_vmail-vol-1/_data

And create the config file

vi ./_virtual/All\ Mail/dovecot-virtual

*
-INBOX/Trash
-INBOX/Trash/*
-INBOX/Spam
-INBOX/Spam/*
  all

Set the correct owner

docker exec mailcowdockerized-dovecot-mailcow-1 chown -R vmail:vmail /var/vmail/_virtual

4/ Restart container to enable the virtual folder

cd /opt/mailcow-dockerized
docker-compose restart dovecot-mailcow

[jol64]

@santo74 Thanks a lot!
@DerLinkman Imho the quick fix would be to add virtual to the generating echo statements within docker-entrypoint.sh of the dovecot container.

[milkmaker]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs.