I am trying to set up a relatively basic postfix/dovecot IMAP/SMTP server with a MySQL backend. It appears that the authentication is successful, I just seem to be getting this error:
Initialization failed: Namespace '': Home directory not set for user. Can't expand ~/ for mail root dir in: ~/myserver.io/mail/
The error I am getting is this, along with DEBUG:
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib64/dovecot/auth
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/auth/libdriver_mysql.so
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/auth/libdriver_sqlite.so
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: Read auth token secret from /var/run/dovecot/auth-token-secret.dat
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: auth client connected (pid=9974)
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: client in: AUTH#0111#011PLAIN#011service=imap#011secured#011session=IeV306tkgAB/AAAB#011lip=127.0.0.1#011rip=127.0.0.1#011lport=143#011rport=50816#011resp=AG1haWxAdmVuZ2VhbmNlLmlvAENyM2F0MXZlLS0= (previous base64 data may contain sensitive data)
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth-worker(9977): Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/lib64/dovecot/auth
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth-worker(9977): Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/auth/libdriver_mysql.so
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth-worker(9977): Debug: Module loaded: /usr/lib64/dovecot/auth/libdriver_sqlite.so
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth-worker(9977): Debug: sql([email protected],127.0.0.1): query: SELECT username, domain, password, CONCAT('maildir:~/', maildir) AS userdb_home, '1000' AS userdb_uid, '1000' AS userdb_gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = 'mail' AND domain = 'myserver.io'
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: client passdb out: OK#0111#[email protected]
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: master in: REQUEST#0112229403649#0119974#0111#011aaa130ec6f6296678ec1e9e7866efbaf#011session_pid=9980#011request_auth_token
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth-worker(9977): Debug: sql([email protected],127.0.0.1): SELECT CONCAT('maildir:~/', maildir) as mail, '1000' AS uid, '1000' as gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = 'mail' AND domain = 'myserver.io'
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: auth: Debug: master userdb out: USER#0112229403649#[email protected]#011mail=maildir:~/myserver.io/mail/#011uid=1000#011gid=1000#011auth_token=d72ede03452694f33b4b1c759539f7ec613cab95
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: imap-login: Login: user=<[email protected]>, method=PLAIN, rip=127.0.0.1, lip=127.0.0.1, mpid=9980, secured, session=<IeV306tkgAB/AAAB>
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: imap: Debug: Added userdb setting: mail=maildir:~/myserver.io/mail/
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: imap([email protected]): Debug: Effective uid=1000, gid=1000, home=
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: imap([email protected]): Debug: Namespace inbox: type=private, prefix=, sep=/, inbox=yes, hidden=no, list=yes, subscriptions=yes location=maildir:~/myserver.io/mail/
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: imap([email protected]): Error: user [email protected]: Initialization failed: Namespace '': Home directory not set for user. Can't expand ~/ for mail root dir in: ~/myserver.io/mail/
Feb 8 04:27:13 localhost dovecot: imap([email protected]): Error: Invalid user settings. Refer to server log for more information.
p=/, inbox=yes, hidden=no, list=yes, subscriptions=yes location=maildir:~/myserver.io/mail/
My dovecot config is:
[root@postfix webmail]# dovecot -n
# 2.2.10: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 4.14.14-x86_64-linode94 x86_64 CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core)
auth_debug_passwords = yes
disable_plaintext_auth = no
mail_debug = yes
mail_gid = vmail
mail_privileged_group = mail
mail_uid = vmail
namespace inbox {
inbox = yes
location =
mailbox Drafts {
auto = subscribe
special_use = \Drafts
}
mailbox Junk {
auto = subscribe
special_use = \Junk
}
mailbox Sent {
auto = subscribe
special_use = \Sent
}
mailbox Trash {
auto = subscribe
special_use = \Trash
}
prefix =
separator = /
type = private
}
passdb {
args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
driver = sql
}
protocols = imap
service auth {
unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth {
group = postfix
mode = 0660
user = postfix
}
unix_listener auth-master {
group = vmail
mode = 0660
user = vmail
}
user = $default_internal_user
}
ssl = no
userdb {
args = /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf
driver = sql
}
Finally, my MySQL conf
driver = mysql
# The mysqld.sock socket may be in different locations in different systems.
# Use "host= ... pass=foo#bar" with double-quotes if your password has '#' character.
connect = host=localhost dbname=postfix user=root password=supersecretpass
default_pass_scheme = MD5-CRYPT
# Alternatively you can connect to localhost as well:
#connect = host=localhost dbname=mails user=admin password=pass # port=3306
password_query = SELECT username, domain, password, \
CONCAT('maildir:~/', maildir) AS userdb_home, \
'1000' AS userdb_uid, '1000' AS userdb_gid \
FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%n' AND domain = '%d'
user_query = SELECT CONCAT('maildir:~/', maildir) as mail, '1000' AS uid, '1000' as gid FROM mailbox WHERE username = '%n' AND domain = '%d'
# For using doveadm -A:
iterate_query = SELECT username, domain FROM mailbox
I am at a complete loss!
The error is pretty clear:
Dovecot doesn't know where to put the mail, because you have set the maildir to be
~/myserver.io/mail/
but you have not told it what the user's home directory is. Try something like this, which sets thehome
as well asuserdb_mail
: