MBPATH(8)

📦
version 3.12.4 · 6 versions
, in fedora 44

💖 MBPATH(8) — Cyrus IMAP 💖

okay bestie, welcome to mbpath, the little Cyrus IMAP bestie that turns your mailbox names into actual filesystem paths ✨ no cap, that's literally the whole job. (Also hi, this is the Cyrus IMAP documentation, mwah 💅)

🌸 NAME 🌸

mbpath — translate mailbox names to filesystem paths 🦋

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

mbpath [ -C config-file ] [ -l ] [ -m ] [ -q ] [ -s ] [ -u | -p ] [ -a | -A | -M | -S | -U ] [ mailbox-names... ]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so you hand it a mailbox name, or a whole space separated list of mailbox names, and mbpath outputs the filesystem path(s) of the mailbox. that's it. that's the gig 👑

by default, you get the mailboxes' data partition paths (same as -D, since -D is the default and she is the moment). wanna pick a different path? scroll down to Selectors and choose your fighter 💖

also she reads her config options out of the imapd.conf(5) file unless you tell her otherwise with -C. and she uses <configdirectory>/mailboxes.db to locate the mailboxes on disk. iykyk 🔥

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -C config-file — use the config file config-file you specified instead of the default imapd.conf(5). be specific bestie, she loves that 🌈
  • -l, --local-only — local mailboxes only. if a mailbox is remote or just straight up doesn't exist, she exits with an error. no pretending, no vibes-based guessing 😭
  • -m — output the path to the metadata files (if they're different from the message files). legacy behavior, so honestly just use -M. it's giving vintage 🎀
  • -q, --quiet — suppress any error output. shhh. she's not gonna tell you what went wrong 🤫
  • -s, --stop — if any error occurs, stop processing the list of mailboxes and exit. one strike and she's out 💀
  • -u, --userids — the mailbox-names you gave her are actually userids, not mailboxes. important distinction, don't come for her 🫶
  • -p, --paths — the mailbox-names you gave her are actually UNIX mailbox paths, not mailboxes. yes she's flexible, yes she ate ⭐

👑 SELECTORS 👑

this is the section where you pick which path(s) she shows you. choose wisely, queen 👸

  • -A, --archive — show the mailbox archive path 📦
  • -D, --data — show the mailbox data path (this is the default, in case you forgot, and you did, it's fine) 💖
  • -M, --metadata — show the mailbox metadata path (same as -m, twins fr fr) ✨
  • -S, --sieve — show the user sieve scripts path 🌸
  • -U, --user-files — show the user files path (seen, sub, etc) 🦋
  • -a, --all — show all paths, as if every single selector was specified. she's doing the most and we love her for it 🔥

🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

okay so here's the group chat receipts, run them exactly like this:

mbpath user.jsmith

Display the data path for mailbox user.jsmith. 💖

mbpath -M user.jsmith

Display the metadata path for mailbox user.jsmith. ✨

mbpath -u -S jsmith

Display the sieve scripts path for user jsmith. 🎀

🍓 FILES 🍓

  • /etc/imapd.conf
  • <configdirectory>/mailboxes.db

these are the files she's obsessed with. periodt 💅

🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

💜 AUTHOR 💜

The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight) — iconic behavior honestly, thank you for your service 🫶

1993–2026, The Cyrus Team. all rights reserved, all vibes preserved 👑

lowkey a reminder bestie: everything above is exactly what she does, no invented features, no extra lore. what you see is what you get 💯

okay that's the whole page, go forth and translate those mailbox names, main character energy only 🌟

this was Cyrus IMAP mbpath from version 3.12.4, dated Sep 09, 2026 — mwah, take care of her, she's iconic 💖✨🎀

📦 where this page comes from