MAKEIMAPACCESS(8)

✨ MAKEIMAPACCESS ✨

okay bestie, welcome to makeimapaccess(8) — the Courier Mail Server era, section 8, and the vibe is "S. Varshavchik said rebuild the access file and I said yes ma'am" 💅

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🌸 NAME 🌸

makeimapaccess — build that IMAP server access file, periodt.

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

makeimapaccess

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea, bestie 🫖 — makeimapaccess rebuilds the contents of the /etc/courier/imapaccess.dat database using the contents of the files sitting in the /etc/courier/imapaccess directory. it's giving compiler energy, ngl.

when the imapd script starts couriertcpd, that script points at the /etc/courier/imapaccess.dat file to control access to the Courier mail server's IMAP daemon. so basically, the makeimapaccess script has to be run before any changes in the /etc/courier/imapaccess directory actually take effect. no running it, no effect. it's literally the main character of that whole flow ✨

if you want the general format of access files, that's a couriertcpd(8) manual page thing — go read it, it's linked down in SEE ALSO.

💖 The imapaccess configuration file 💖

the couriertcpd(8) manual page covers the generic format of the access file. the access file says what should happen with connections coming from specific IP address ranges. your basic choices are: accept the connection, or reject the connection. that's the plot 🎭

also, the generic access file format lets you set arbitrary environment variables based on the connection's remote IP address — but heads up, the IMAP server does not use any special environment variables on its own. so like, the capability is there, the IMAP server just isn't using it. 🫶

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🔥 SUBDIRECTORY CHECKS 🔥

plot twist: /etc/courier/imapaccess can be a subdirectory instead of a text file. when that happens, it has the effect of concatenating all the files in that directory (subject to the checks below, bestie, always the checks) and then using the result as the /etc/courier/imapaccess file. here's what gets checked:

• files whose names contain a tilde, "~", are skipped over. bye girl 👋
• files whose names end with the following suffixes result in an error message: ".rpmsave", ".rpmnew", and ".dpkg-suffix". these are backup files that the package manager creates when updating to a newer version of the package, and they contain the old or the new version of a configuration file whose settings may be new or obsolete.

what you're supposed to do: check the contents of the file whose name does not have the suffix against the backup. then delete the backup file after making any needed manual changes to the configuration file. clean up after yourself, queen 🧹

• files whose names end with the ".dist" suffix are also treated as a configuration file backup or template, but with this one exception: the ".dist" file gets ignored and automatically skipped over, without any error message, if the suffix-less file exists and its modification time is more recent than the ".dist" file's modification time.

otherwise? an error message gets reported. 😭 and to resolve that error message you either copy the ".dist" file, or edit and save the file without the suffix — which gives it a newer timestamp. timestamp = the whole game, iykyk ⏰

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💜 SEE ALSO 💜

• couriertcpd(8)

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Sam Varshavchik — Author

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💀 NOTES 💀

1. couriertcpd(8) — https://www.courier-mta.org/couriertcpd.html

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and that's the whole page, bestie 🎀 this lil gem is from Courier Mail Server, dated 01/10/2026, and it ate, fr fr. go run your makeimapaccess and slay 💖✨