dovecot - Mar 2012 - Per-user IMAP enable - is it possible?

Just wonder if it is possible to enable/disable IMAP4 on Dovecot (2.0.x 
as far) on per-user basis?

The deal is simple: our policy is not to store a lot of mailing on 
mailserver (the user should store it locally), thus the 'use POP3' 
approach, but for a vary few users it is permitted to use IMAP4. But 
users sometimes simple miss the point that some mail clients (e.g. TB) 
'prefer' to use IMAP4 first, and afterward I see mailbox full of 
mailings and no local store of it on user's workstation.

Sound too complicated, but setting up two Dovecots is not something I'd 
love to do as well.

Thank you for any ideas,
   Alexander

On 3/20/2012 1:28 AM, Alexander Chekalin wrote:
> Just wonder if it is possible to enable/disable IMAP4 on Dovecot 
> (2.0.x as far) on per-user basis?
>
> The deal is simple: our policy is not to store a lot of mailing on 
> mailserver (the user should store it locally), thus the 'use POP3' 
> approach, but for a vary few users it is permitted to use IMAP4. But 
> users sometimes simple miss the point that some mail clients (e.g. TB) 
> 'prefer' to use IMAP4 first, and afterward I see mailbox full of 
> mailings and no local store of it on user's workstation.
>
> Sound too complicated, but setting up two Dovecots is not something 
> I'd love to do as well.
>
> Thank you for any ideas,
>   Alexander
There would be various ways to do this, the specifics would depend on 
what kind of passdb you use.

If you happen to be using a SQL database, you could do something like 
this: Add an allow_imap column, and change the password_query in 
dovecot-sql.conf.ext to something like this:

password_query = SELECT password FROM user WHERE username = '%n' AND 
domain = '%d' \
   AND ('%s' != 'imap' or allow_imap=1)

This would make the user appear to not exist when trying to log in via IMAP.

http://wiki2.dovecot.org/Variables