DOVECOT(1)

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

DESCRIPTION

Dovecot is an open source IMAP and POP3 server for Linux/UNIX-like systems, written with security primarily in mind. Dovecot is an excellent choice for both small and large installations. It's fast, simple to set up, requires no special administration and it uses very little memory.

OPTIONS

-a

        Dump all configuration settings to stdout and exit successfully. The same as doveconf -a.

-c config-file

        Start dovecot with an alternative configuration.

-F

        Run dovecot in foreground, do not daemonize.

-n

        Dump non-default settings to stdout and exit successfully. The same as doveconf -n.

-p

        Prompt for the ssl key password for the configured ssl_server_key on startup.

--build-options

        Show Dovecot's build options and exit successfully.

--help

        Print a usage message to stdout and exit successfully.

--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.

--version

        Show Dovecot's version and exit successfully.

COMMANDS

reload

        Force dovecot to reload its configuration.

stop

        Shutdown dovecot and all its child processes.

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 all active sessions will be shut down.

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).

The signals ALARM and PIPE are ignored.

FILES

/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

        Dovecot's main configuration file.

/etc/dovecot/conf.d/.conf*

        Configuration files of different services and settings.

REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Information about reporting bugs is available at: https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html

SEE ALSO

doveadm(1)