dovecot - Apr 2005 - Basic configuration problem "not a directory"

Hi,

I've been struggling with getting dovecot up and running the last hour, 
but I seem to be stuck.

When logging in (which I can do successfully) my connection is dropped, 
and the following is outputted to my dovecot log:

dovecot: Apr 26 09:56:52 Fatal: chdir(/bin/false) failed with uid 513: 
Not a directory
dovecot: Apr 26 09:56:52 Error: child 27345 (imap) returned error 89 

.. But I'm certain the relevant directories exist. Relevant 
configuration details are as follows:

* [dovecot.conf]
valid_chroot_dirs = /var/spool/vmail
default_mail_env = maildir:/var/spool/vmail/$d/%n/

* [passwd sample]
einar at domain.com::513:513:/var/spool/vmail/domain.com/:/bin/false::

* [directory listing]
[root at server einar]# pwd
/var/spool/vmail/domain.com/einar
[root at server einar]# ls -l
totalt 12
drwx------  2 virtmail virtmail 4096 apr 26 07:27 cur
drwx------  2 virtmail virtmail 4096 apr 26 08:48 new
drwx------  2 virtmail virtmail 4096 apr 26 08:48 tmp


I'd be very grateful for any assistance, any ideas of what might be 
wrong. Is there any easy way to see the relevant directory that 
/bin/false exits on?

-Einar-

It looks like dovecot is mistakenly picking up "/bin/false" as a 
directory (rather than a shell) in the password file.

What OS and version of dovecot are you using?

You could prove my theory by changing /bin/false to something else in 
the password file as a test.

Chris

Einar Flesaker wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I've been struggling with getting dovecot up and running the last hour,
> but I seem to be stuck.
> 
> When logging in (which I can do successfully) my connection is dropped, 
> and the following is outputted to my dovecot log:
> 
> dovecot: Apr 26 09:56:52 Fatal: chdir(/bin/false) failed with uid 513: 
> Not a directory
> dovecot: Apr 26 09:56:52 Error: child 27345 (imap) returned error 89 
> 
> .. But I'm certain the relevant directories exist. Relevant 
> configuration details are as follows:
> 
> * [dovecot.conf]
> valid_chroot_dirs = /var/spool/vmail
> default_mail_env = maildir:/var/spool/vmail/$d/%n/
> 
> * [passwd sample]
> einar at domain.com::513:513:/var/spool/vmail/domain.com/:/bin/false::
> 
> * [directory listing]
> [root at server einar]# pwd
> /var/spool/vmail/domain.com/einar
> [root at server einar]# ls -l
> totalt 12
> drwx------  2 virtmail virtmail 4096 apr 26 07:27 cur
> drwx------  2 virtmail virtmail 4096 apr 26 08:48 new
> drwx------  2 virtmail virtmail 4096 apr 26 08:48 tmp
> 
> 
> I'd be very grateful for any assistance, any ideas of what might be 
> wrong. Is there any easy way to see the relevant directory that 
> /bin/false exits on?
> 
> -Einar-

-- 
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Christopher Wakelin,                           c.d.wakelin at reading.ac.uk
IT Services Centre, The University of Reading,  Tel: +44 (0)118 378 8439
Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 2AF, UK              Fax: +44 (0)118 975 3094