DBMAIL-IMAPD(8)

📦 version 3.5.6, in arch rolling

🌸 dbmail-imapd(8) — the IMAP girlie 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to dbmail-imapd, a page from the DBMAIL-IMAPD(8) manual ✨ (yes that's the manual section, no we're not gonna be normal about it).

✨ NAME ✨

dbmail-imapd — the whole entire vibe is that it gives clients access to the DBMail system, but only for clients that support Internet Message Access Protocol, IMAP4r1, exactly as specified in RFC 3501 🎀

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

dbmail-imapd [--config configfile] [--pidfile pidfile]
dbmail-imapd [--config configfile] [--pidfile pidfile] --no-daemon
dbmail-imapd [--config configfile] [--pidfile pidfile] --inetd

like, three whole ways to launch her. pick your fighter 💜

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so the dbmail-imapd daemon is a fully featured IMAP4r1 server. that's it, that's the whole description, and honestly? she ate. 👑

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -p, --pidfile pidfile — specify an alternate pid file, bestie 🫶 by default the daemons use dbmail-<daemon>.pid for their pid files, and they save them in the directory specified by the pid_directory entry in dbmail.conf, or if that does not exist, the value set by the configuration option --localstatedir. and she will halt if the pid file cannot be written 😭 so like, be normal about this. use the -p pidfile option to place the pid file in your system's preferred location.
  • -n, --no-daemon — No daemonize: inetd mode 💀 the program remains attached to the console from which it was started and will read and write on stdin/stdout. this is useful for debugging when combined with the -v option. it's also used for running from (x)inetd. it's giving "I'm right here in the terminal with you" 🌸
  • -D, --inetd — No daemonize: the program remains attached to the console and will listen on the network sockets defined in dbmail.conf 🔥 this is mostly used for xinetd (Extended Internet Service Daemon).

✨ COMMON OPTIONS ✨

  • -f, --config configfile — specify an alternate config file ✨

use dbmail-<utility> --help to show the default location. iykyk 💅

  • -q, --quiet — quietly skip interactive prompts and helpful status messages which would otherwise be printed to stdout 🌙 use two -q's to silence errors which would otherwise be printed to stderr. double quiet is lowkey the icon behavior.
  • -v, --verbose — operate verbosely 🗣️ some of the utilities in the DBMail suite can take two -v's for extra verbosity. those which don't understand this convention won't complain about having the extra -v and will simply operate at their normal verbosity. no drama, no cap 💖
  • -V, --version — show the version and copyright, then exit ⭐
  • -h, --help — show a brief summary of options, then exit 🦋

✨ EXAMPLE ✨

for xinetd 🧚

# /etc/xinet.d/dbmail-imap
#
service imap
{
        socket_type     = stream
        wait            = no
        user            = root
        server          = /usr/local/sbin/dbmail-imapd
        protocol        = tcp
        server_args     = -n
        log_on_failure  += USERID
        disable         = no
}

for stunnel 🌈

pid = /var/run/stunnel.pid
cert = /etc/stunnel/yourkeys.pem

# The next two sections will turn stunnel
# into a 'secure inetd'. This is mutually
# exclusive with the proxy sections below.
[dbmail-pop3d]
accept = 995
exec = /usr/local/sbin/dbmail-pop3d
execargs = dbmail-pop3d -n

[dbmail-imapd]
accept = 993
exec = /usr/local/sbin/dbmail-imapd
execargs = dbmail-imapd -n

# The next two sections will proxy
# from the secure protocol over to
# the insecure protocol. In this case,
# use BINDIP=localhost in dbmail.conf!
[pop3s]
accept  = 995
connect = 110

[imaps]
accept  = 993
connect = 143

# Useful if your preferred SMTP server doesn't do SSL/TLS.
# This is with your MTA configuration, not DBMail, per se.
[ssmtp]
accept  = 465
connect = 25
bestie please read that comment block up there — the secure-inetd sections are mutually exclusive with the proxy sections below them. that's literally stated. don't mix them 🙈

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

dbmail(1), dbmail.conf(5), dbmail-deliver(1), dbmail-export(8), dbmail-httpd(8), dbmail-imapd(8), dbmail-lmtpd(8), dbmail-pop3d(8), dbmail-sieved(8), dbmail-sievecmd(8), dbmail-users(8), dbmail-util(8) — yeah she's in the group chat with all her sisters 🫶

✨ BUGS ✨

  • for the latest announcements, please subscribe to the DBMail announce mailing list<sup>1</sup> 📣
  • for general discussion, please subscribe to the DBMail general mailing list<sup>2</sup> 💬
  • if you experience an issue with DBMail, please report it on the DBMail Bug Tracker<sup>3</sup>. it may be helpful to have a debug log available 🔍 (ngl a debug log is the moment)

✨ LICENSE ✨

DBMail and its components are distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License Version 2. copyrights are held variously by the authors listed below ⚖️

✨ AUTHOR(S) ✨

DBMail is a collaborative effort among the core developers listed below and the tremendous help of the testers, patchers and bug hunters listed in the AUTHORS and THANKS files found in the DBMail source distribution 🫶

    Alan Hicks          Persistent Objects Ltd https://p-o.co.uk
    Eelco van Beek      Aaron Stone            Paul J Stevens
    Roel Rozendaal      Open Source Engineer   NFG Net Facilities Group BV
    Ilja Booij          Palo Alto, CA USA      http://www.nfg.nl
    IC&S                                       http://www.ic-s.nl

✨ AUTHOR ✨

Alan Hicks <ahicks@p-o.co.uk> — Author. 👑

✨ NOTES ✨

  1. DBMail announce mailing list https://dbmail.org/wws/info/dbmail-announce/
  2. DBMail general mailing list https://dbmail.org/wws/info/dbmail-general/
  3. DBMail Bug Tracker https://github.com/dbmail/dbmail/issues

okay that's the whole page, you're so welcome 💖 this little DBMAIL-IMAPD(8) beauty has been out here since the 08/28/2026 build, so go forth, run your daemon, and slay ✨🦋💅

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