dovecot - Jan 2010 - Want to have some users with Maildir, some with mbox

Want to have some users with Maildir, some with mbox, as I migrate from 
mbox format to maildir over the space of a month.  After everyone is 
converted to maildir, I'll change the mail_location in dovecot.conf.  
During the interim, can I use the Custom mailbox location script (at the 
bottom of the Mail Location DC Wiki page)?
> if [ -d $HOME/.maildir ]; then
>   export MAIL=maildir:$HOME/.maildir
> else
>   export MAIL=mbox:$HOME/mail:INBOX=/var/mail/$USER
> fi
>   
Questions:
1) What does explicitly specifying MAIL this way override?  The 
dovecot.conf mail_location variable?
2) My mail_location var is defined as:

mail_location: mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u:INDEX=/var/dcindx/%u

and my prospective maildir INBOX and mail folder root is to be 
~/Maildir.  So would I change the above to:
> if [ -d $HOME/Maildir ]; then
>   export MAIL=maildir:$HOME/Maildir:INDEX=/var/dcindx/$USER
> else
>   export MAIL=mbox:$HOME/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/$USER:
> INDEX=/var/dcindx/$USER
> fi 
Question 3:  When converting existing users from mbox to maildir, should 
I delete the index contents?

Thanks in advance!

dovecot -n output

# 1.2.8: /usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf
# OS: AIX 3 0001378F4C00  
listen: *:143
ssl_listen: *:993
disable_plaintext_auth: no
verbose_ssl: yes
login_dir: /var/run/dovecot/login
login_executable: /usr/local/libexec/dovecot/imap-login
login_processes_count: 12
login_max_processes_count: 774
max_mail_processes: 1280
mail_max_userip_connections: 12
verbose_proctitle: yes
first_valid_uid: 200
mail_location: mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u:INDEX=/var/dcindx/%u
mbox_write_locks: fcntl
mbox_dirty_syncs: no
lda:
  postmaster_address: postmaster at example.com
auth default:
  passdb:
    driver: pam
  userdb:
    driver: passwd


-- 
==== Once upon a time, the Internet was a friendly, 
neighbors-helping-neighbors small town, and no one locked their doors. 
Now it's like an apartment in Bed-Stuy: you need three heavy duty 
pick-proof locks, one of those braces that goes from the lock to the 
floor, and bars on the windows.... ==== Stewart Dean, Unix System Admin, 
Bard College, New York 12504 sdean at bard.edu voice: 845-758-7475, fax: 
845-758-7035

On Fri, 2010-01-29 at 16:04 -0500, Stewart Dean wrote:
> Questions:
> 1) What does explicitly specifying MAIL this way override?  The 
> dovecot.conf mail_location variable?
Yes.
> 2) My mail_location var is defined as:
> 
> mail_location: mbox:~/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/%u:INDEX=/var/dcindx/%u
> 
> and my prospective maildir INBOX and mail folder root is to be 
> ~/Maildir.  So would I change the above to:
Yes.
> > if [ -d $HOME/Maildir ]; then
> >   export MAIL=maildir:$HOME/Maildir:INDEX=/var/dcindx/$USER
> > else
> >   export MAIL=mbox:$HOME/mail:INBOX=/var/spool/mail/$USER:
> > INDEX=/var/dcindx/$USER
> > fi 
Although the "else" part is unnecessary, since it's the default
anyway.
> Question 3:  When converting existing users from mbox to maildir, should 
> I delete the index contents?
They'll be created into different directories. mbox is in .imap/ dirs,
while Maildir doesn't use it. So you can delete the .imap/ dirs
afterwards from wasting space.

BTW. Are you also using a script that preserves IMAP UIDs? Otherwise
IMAP clients will re-download all the mail.
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> BTW. Are you also using a script that preserves IMAP UIDs? Otherwise 
> IMAP clients will re-download all the mail.
Does the "convert" plugin preserve the UIDs?  The wiki implies that it
doesn't, but I thought maybe since it's implemented as a plugin that 
maybe it does (or that maybe the caution is about converting to/from 
dovecot and some other server).

> http://wiki.dovecot.org/Migration/MailFormat shows a bunch of scripts, one
of them claims to preserve UIDs.
>    
Does anyone here have direct successful experience with this?  I only 
asked about this because a comment on that same page says, "None of the 
solutions described below preserve the message UIDs."

(Some of my users have > 1 GB of email, so any UID disruption would 
likely be seriously annoying to them.)

GREAT!

Timo Sirainen wrote:
> Yes.
> Yes.
>
>   
:) Getting to Yes! :)
> Question 3: When converting existing users from mbox to maildir, should
>> I delete the index contents?
>>     
>
> They'll be created into different directories. mbox is in .imap/ dirs,
> while Maildir doesn't use it. So you can delete the .imap/ dirs
> afterwards from wasting space.
>   
Does this mean that DC with Maildir doesn't use indices OR that it 
doesn't use that directory tree?

Timo: Thanks SO much for your help.  Do you still have an Amazon wish 
list :)?

-- 
"Grant us, in our direst need, the smallest gifts: the nail of the 
horseshoe, the pin of the axle, the feather at the pivot point, the 
pebble at the mountain's peak, the kiss in despair, the one right word. 
In darkness, understanding."
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
-- 
Stewart Dean, Unix System Admin, Henderson Computer Center, Bard 
College, Annandale, New York 12504 sdean at bard.edu voice: 845-758-7475, 
fax: 845-758-7035