dovecot - Jan 2011 - Max number of mail processes

Dovecot version 1.1.11.
Error: Maximum number of mail processes exceeded (see max_mail_processes 
setting).

I  can't seem to get rid of these errors.   I  get batches of these 
errors about 4 or 5 times a day.   I  have a cron-job checking for the 
existence of this error and then  I   reboot dovecot when  I  see this 
error, but what is causing this error ?  What  I  am reading on the 
Internet about this particular issue has not helped to resolve the 
issue.   I  would really like to know how many mail processes it thinks 
that it is using at any one instant in time.  Is this possible ?  Maybe 
then  I  can track the reason for the error.

On 11.1.2011, at 0.37, Patrick Nudo wrote:
> Dovecot version 1.1.11.
> Error: Maximum number of mail processes exceeded (see max_mail_processes
setting).
> 
> I  can't seem to get rid of these errors.   I  get batches of these
errors about 4 or 5 times a day.   I  have a cron-job checking for the existence
of this error and then  I   reboot dovecot when  I  see this error, but what is
causing this error ?  What  I  am reading on the Internet about this particular
issue has not helped to resolve the issue.   I  would really like to know how
many mail processes it thinks that it is using at any one instant in time.  Is
this possible ?  Maybe then  I  can track the reason for the error.
It thinks there are max_mail_processes number of processes running at that time.
Which you can find out with:

dovecot -a | grep max_mail_processes