Hello, I want to use different authentication arguments for smtp and imap/pop3. In the dovecot list I found this: http://www.dovecot.org/list/dovecot/2013-August/091960.html I tried to follow these instructions but dovecot refuses to find the auth executable: Dec 12 10:36:18 jlaptop postfix/smtpd[7302]: connect from localhost[127.0.0.1] Dec 12 10:36:18 jlaptop dovecot: auth-10: Error: doveconf: Fatal: execvp(/usr/local/var/run/dovecot/dovecot/auth) failed: No such file or directory Dec 12 10:36:18 jlaptop dovecot: master: Error: service(auth-10): command startup failed, throttling for 2 secs Dec 12 10:36:18 jlaptop dovecot: auth-10: Fatal: master: service(auth-10): child 7304 returned error 89 (Fatal failure) Dec 12 10:36:18 jlaptop postfix/smtpd[7302]: fatal: no SASL authentication mechanisms Dec 12 10:36:19 jlaptop postfix/master[7046]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/smtpd pid 7302 exit status 1 Dec 12 10:36:19 jlaptop postfix/master[7046]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling My settings for postfix and dovecot are as follows: root at jlaptop:/usr/local/etc/dovecot/conf.d# postconf -n alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases append_dot_mydomain = no biff = no config_directory = /etc/postfix default_transport = error home_mailbox = Maildir/ inet_interfaces = loopback-only mailbox_command mailbox_size_limit = 0 myhostname = jlaptop mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128 queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix readme_directory = no recipient_delimiter = + relay_transport = error relayhost smtp_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtp_scache smtpd_banner = $myhostname ESMTP $mail_name (Ubuntu) smtpd_relay_restrictions = permit_mynetworks permit_sasl_authenticated defer_unauth_destination smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes smtpd_sasl_path = private/auth-10 smtpd_sasl_type = dovecot smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key smtpd_tls_session_cache_database = btree:${data_directory}/smtpd_scache smtpd_use_tls = yes virtual_gid_maps = static:8 virtual_mailbox_base = /var/mail/smtp virtual_mailbox_domains = jlaptop.com virtual_mailbox_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/vmaps virtual_minimum_uid = 100 virtual_uid_maps = static:124 root at jlaptop:/usr/local/etc/dovecot/conf.d# doveconf -n # 2.2.9: /usr/local/etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf # OS: Linux 3.11.0-13-generic x86_64 Ubuntu 13.10 auth_debug = yes auth_debug_passwords = yes auth_verbose = yes first_valid_uid = 124 mail_gid = mail mail_home = /var/mail/imap/%n mail_location = maildir:~/mail mail_plugin_dir = /usr/local/lib/dovecot/ mail_plugins = gpgfuse_umount mail_uid = vmail namespace inbox { inbox = yes location mailbox Drafts { special_use = \Drafts } mailbox Junk { special_use = \Junk } mailbox Sent { special_use = \Sent } mailbox "Sent Messages" { special_use = \Sent } mailbox Trash { special_use = \Trash } prefix } passdb { args = session=yes dovecot driver = pam } protocols = imap pop3 lmtp imap pop3 service auth-10 { executable = auth -c /usr/local/etc/dovecot-auth-smtp.conf process_limit = 1 unix_listener /var/spool/postfix/private/auth-10 { group = postfix mode = 0666 user = postfix } } ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/dovecot.pem ssl_key = </etc/dovecot/private/dovecot.pem userdb { args = uid=vmail gid=mail home=/var/mail/imap/%n driver = static } The file /usr/local/etc/dovecot-auth-smtp.conf is as follows: auth_mechanisms = plain login disable_plaintext_auth = no #auth_username_format = %Lu auth_debug = yes auth_debug_passwords = yes auth_verbose = yes first_valid_uid = 124 mail_gid = mail mail_uid = vmail protocols = imap pop3 lmtp imap pop3 ssl_cert = </etc/dovecot/dovecot.pem ssl_key = </etc/dovecot/private/dovecot.pem passdb { driver = pam args = dovecot } userdb { driver = static args = uid=vmail gid=mail home=/var/mail/imap/%n } The result is exactly the same also if I don't give the path to auth. I.e.: executable = auth -c /usr/local/etc/dovecot-auth-smtp.conf In order to get past this problem I provided the auth executable in /usr/local/var/run/dovecot/dovecot/auth, but then I get a new problem: Dec 12 12:31:53 jlaptop postfix/smtpd[9220]: connect from localhost[127.0.0.1] Dec 12 12:31:53 jlaptop dovecot: auth-10: Error: Debug: Loading modules from directory: /usr/local/lib/dovecot/auth Dec 12 12:31:53 jlaptop dovecot: auth-10: Error: Debug: Read auth token secret from /usr/local/var/run/dovecot/auth-token-secret.dat Dec 12 12:32:03 jlaptop postfix/smtpd[9220]: fatal: no SASL authentication mechanisms Dec 12 12:32:04 jlaptop postfix/master[8842]: warning: process /usr/lib/postfix/smtpd pid 9220 exit status 1 Dec 12 12:32:04 jlaptop postfix/master[8842]: warning: /usr/lib/postfix/smtpd: bad command startup -- throttling My test client is thunderbird with smtp connection security "None" and Authentication method "Password, transmitted insecurely". Any ideas what is going wrong? Is there a better way to provide different passdb settings for smtp and imap/pop3? regards, - Jouko