Why doesn't Cyrus put mail into boxes?

[Mike Brodbelt]

Mike Jones wrote:
> Maybe somebody can help with this:
> 
> I'm working my way through a Postfix/Cyrus/SASL setup with the intention of adding 
> MySQL later.
> 
> I have come so far that I can see files named __db.<serial number> grow in the
> 
> /var/lib/cyrus/db directory (Debian woody).

What version? Are you using the backports of 2.1, or something else? The
'/var/lib/cyrus/db dir has the delivery database in it, so if you're
seeing them grow, it seems that cyrus is at least seeing the mail you're
sending you it.

> However, no mail ends up in the mailboxes underneath the
> 
> /var/spool/cyrus/mail directory.
> 
> I assume this means that postfix successfully transfers mail to Cyrus via lmtp (I use 
> a tcp socket to communicate between chroot jails). There are registered Cyrus 
> users corresponding to the email addresses queued up, so I'm puzzled as to why 
> the mail doesn't move - any bids?

When you do LMTP delivery over a Unix socket, the connection is
pre-authenticated as "postman", a pseudo user with permission to write
to all the mail spools. IIRR, when you use a TCP socket, the user the
MTA is running as must have post permission to the mailboxes you're
trying to send to.

If I were you I'd change to LMTP over a Unix socket, and see if that
works. If so, you've at least isolated your problem, and can then switch
back to TCP with a good idea of how to start fixing it.

> Also, I must admit that I don't understand the Cyrus documentation very well (and I 
> miss a bunch of basic functions in cyradm, especially such providing more enquiry 
> possibilities into parts of the queueing system).

The queueing system is mostly the MTA's job, not cyrus's. I use
Sendmail, not Postfix, but I can feed it mail on the command line and
have the LMTP conversation echoed back to the screen, which makes for
easier debugging of these sorts of things.

> I have searched the web for more 
> understandable information without luck - can anybody point me to a good paper 
> explaining the internal workings of Cyrus (including diagrams :-))?

There's an OpenOffice drawing that someone linked to a while ago, but I
can't find the link now. If you can't find it in the list archives, mail
me off list and I'll send you a copy.

HTH,

Mike.
---
Cyrus Home Page: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus
Cyrus Wiki/FAQ: http://cyruswiki.andrew.cmu.edu
List Archives/Info: http://asg.web.cmu.edu/cyrus/mailing-list.html