dovecot - Dec 2010 - Virtual folder root cannot be opened, virtual folders ok

I am running dovecot 1.2.16 and not able to figure out an error
that happens whenever I select the root of a virtual mailbox tree.

At the moment I have a simple maildir store, accessed via IMAP, and
have successfully added a virtual fs namespace with two subdirectories.
I have created dovecot-virtual entries in the subdirs and they are
working fine; they show the expected messages, etc.

My problem is with the top-level virtual directory. If I happen
to select it in Thunderbird (Eudora, actually), I receive a popup
	"The current command did not succeed.  The mail server
	 responded:Mailbox doesn't exist: Mobile."
It also fails in the same way during search, which interrupts it and
makes other client operations fail.

I have tried placing a dovecot-virtual rule in the directory, leaving
the directory empty, moving it in or out of the maildir tree, tweaking
namespace and INDEX/LAYOUT options all with the same result - the
subdirs are fine, the virtual root fails.

I must be missing something obvious. Clue, please? Thanks!

Relevant configuration:
[~] # dovecot -n
# 1.2.16: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
# OS: Linux 2.6.33.2 i686  ext4
...
mail_location: maildir:/var/MailRoot/domains/%d/%n/Maildir
mail_executable: /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap
mail_plugins: fts fts_squat virtual
namespace:
   type: private
   separator: /
   inbox: yes
   list: yes
   subscriptions: yes
namespace:
   type: private
   separator: /
   prefix: Mobile/
   location: virtual:%h/Mobile:INDEX=MEMORY
   list: yes
   subscriptions: yes
...

[~] # ls -lsaR /var/MailRoot/domains/<d>/<u>/Maildir/Mobile
Mobile:
    4 drwx------    4 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 30 16:06 ./
   20 drwx------  243 xmail    xmail       20480 Nov 30 20:55 ../
    4 -rw-------    1 xmail    xmail          19 Nov 26 17:18 
.virtual-subscriptions
    4 drwx------    2 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 29 10:54 Mail1/
    4 drwx------    2 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 29 10:54 Mail2/
    4 -rw-------    1 xmail    xmail          14 Nov 30 16:06 
dovecot-virtual

Mobile/Mail1:
    4 drwx------    2 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 29 10:54 ./
    4 drwx------    4 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 30 16:06 ../
    4 -rw-------    1 xmail    xmail          27 Nov 26 17:16 
dovecot-virtual

Mobile/Mail2:
    4 drwx------    2 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 29 10:54 ./
    4 drwx------    4 xmail    xmail        4096 Nov 30 16:06 ../
    4 -rw-------    1 xmail    xmail          22 Nov 26 17:16 
dovecot-virtual
[~] #

On 11/30/2010 10:30 PM, Tom Talpey wrote:
> I am running dovecot 1.2.16 and not able to figure out an error
> that happens whenever I select the root of a virtual mailbox tree.
FWIW, I have discovered a workaround. By manually unsubscribing the
"Mobile" virtual mailbox (had to edit the ...Maildir/subscriptions
file), Thunderbird no longer barfs when selecting or searching the tree.

I'm still very interested if this is pilot error on my configuration,
or clues to track down the cause if not. Thanks for any ideas.

>
> At the moment I have a simple maildir store, accessed via IMAP, and
> have successfully added a virtual fs namespace with two subdirectories.
> I have created dovecot-virtual entries in the subdirs and they are
> working fine; they show the expected messages, etc.
>
> My problem is with the top-level virtual directory. If I happen
> to select it in Thunderbird (Eudora, actually), I receive a popup
> "The current command did not succeed. The mail server
> responded:Mailbox doesn't exist: Mobile."
> It also fails in the same way during search, which interrupts it and
> makes other client operations fail.
>
> I have tried placing a dovecot-virtual rule in the directory, leaving
> the directory empty, moving it in or out of the maildir tree, tweaking
> namespace and INDEX/LAYOUT options all with the same result - the
> subdirs are fine, the virtual root fails.
>
> I must be missing something obvious. Clue, please? Thanks!
>
> Relevant configuration:
> [~] # dovecot -n
> # 1.2.16: /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
> # OS: Linux 2.6.33.2 i686 ext4
> ...
> mail_location: maildir:/var/MailRoot/domains/%d/%n/Maildir
> mail_executable: /usr/libexec/dovecot/imap
> mail_plugins: fts fts_squat virtual
> namespace:
> type: private
> separator: /
> inbox: yes
> list: yes
> subscriptions: yes
> namespace:
> type: private
> separator: /
> prefix: Mobile/
> location: virtual:%h/Mobile:INDEX=MEMORY
> list: yes
> subscriptions: yes
> ...
>
> [~] # ls -lsaR /var/MailRoot/domains/<d>/<u>/Maildir/Mobile
> Mobile:
> 4 drwx------ 4 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 30 16:06 ./
> 20 drwx------ 243 xmail xmail 20480 Nov 30 20:55 ../
> 4 -rw------- 1 xmail xmail 19 Nov 26 17:18 .virtual-subscriptions
> 4 drwx------ 2 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 29 10:54 Mail1/
> 4 drwx------ 2 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 29 10:54 Mail2/
> 4 -rw------- 1 xmail xmail 14 Nov 30 16:06 dovecot-virtual
>
> Mobile/Mail1:
> 4 drwx------ 2 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 29 10:54 ./
> 4 drwx------ 4 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 30 16:06 ../
> 4 -rw------- 1 xmail xmail 27 Nov 26 17:16 dovecot-virtual
>
> Mobile/Mail2:
> 4 drwx------ 2 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 29 10:54 ./
> 4 drwx------ 4 xmail xmail 4096 Nov 30 16:06 ../
> 4 -rw------- 1 xmail xmail 22 Nov 26 17:16 dovecot-virtual
> [~] #

On Tue, 2010-11-30 at 22:30 -0500, Tom Talpey wrote:
> I am running dovecot 1.2.16 and not able to figure out an error
> that happens whenever I select the root of a virtual mailbox tree.
..
> My problem is with the top-level virtual directory. If I happen
> to select it in Thunderbird (Eudora, actually), I receive a popup
> 	"The current command did not succeed.  The mail server
> 	 responded:Mailbox doesn't exist: Mobile."
> It also fails in the same way during search, which interrupts it and
> makes other client operations fail.
This works in v2.0. Probably too much work to fix it for v1.2.