DOVECOT(1)

📦
version 2.4.5 · 5 versions
, in alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24, arch rolling, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0

💖 DOVECOT(1) — the dovecot manual, section 1, bestie edition 💖

okay so you wanna run a mail server? say less. this is dovecot, and she's that girl. 🕊️✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

dovecot — a secure and highly configurable IMAP and POP3 server 🫶

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dovecot [-Fp] [-c config-file]

dovecot -a [-c config-file]

dovecot -n [-c config-file]

dovecot --build-options

dovecot --help

dovecot --hostdomain

dovecot --version

dovecot reload

dovecot stop

like, pick a lane bestie, she does all of these 💅

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Dovecot is an open source IMAP and POP3 server for Linux/UNIX-like systems, and it was written with security primarily in mind. not as an afterthought, not as a lil patch later — from the jump. 🔥

she's genuinely an excellent choice for both small and large installations, no cap. She's fast, she's simple to set up, she requires no special administration, and she uses very little memory. the way that she just... does all that?? iconic. 👑

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -a — dump all configuration settings to stdout and exit successfully. literally the same as doveconf -a. spill everything, bestie 💅
  • -c config-file — start dovecot with an alternative configuration. your config, your rules ✨
  • -F — run dovecot in the foreground, do not daemonize. she stays right there with you, holding your hand 🫶
  • -n — dump only the non-default settings to stdout and exit successfully. same as doveconf -n. just the spicy stuff 🌶️
  • -p — prompt for the ssl key password for the configured ssl_server_key on startup. secrets stay secret 🤫
  • --build-options — show Dovecot's build options and exit successfully. a little peek behind the curtain 🎭
  • --help — print a usage message to stdout and exit successfully. when in doubt 🥺
  • --hostdomain — shows the current host.domain name of the system. if the domain lookup should fail for some reason, only the hostname will be shown. she tries her best, fr fr 😭
  • --version — show Dovecot's version and exit successfully. iykyk ⭐

👑 COMMANDS 👑

  • reload — force dovecot to reload its configuration. glow-up, but for settings ✨
  • stop — shutdown dovecot and all its child processes. everyone out of the pool 🫧
okay so this next part is important, listen up. when shutdown_clients is set to no, existing sessions will continue to use the old settings after a dovecot reload. also, all sessions will keep alive after a dovecot stop. 🫣
by default, though? all active sessions will be shut down. periodt. 💀

💜 SIGNALS 💜

Dovecot handles the following signals as described:

  • HUP — force dovecot to reload its configuration. 🔄
  • INT — shutdown dovecot and all its child processes. ✋
  • TERM — shutdown dovecot and all its child processes. 🛑
  • USR1 — force dovecot to reopen all configured log files (log_path, info_log_path and debug_log_path). fresh log files, fresh vibes 📓✨
and just so you know — the signals ALARM and PIPE are ignored. she's simply not listening bestie 🙈

🌈 FILES 🌈

  • /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf — Dovecot's main configuration file. the main character file 🎀
  • /etc/dovecot/conf.d/.conf* — configuration files of different services and settings. the supporting cast 💅

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

found a bug? first of all, so sorry 😭 second of all — report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. (yes, include the doveconf -n output, they will ask, just do it 💖)

info about reporting bugs lives at: ⟨https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html⟩

🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

doveadm(1) — go say hi to her sister 💕

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this lil masterpiece is from f979264, dated April 2026, and it's the DOVECOT(1) page. love her, learn her, run her responsibly 🫶💖✨

📦 where this page comes from