Installing dovecot-imapd

To:

/etc/apt/sources.list

add:

deb http://www.backports.org/debian stable dovecot

If you want to be able to download the source also add:

deb-src http://www.backports.org/debian stable dovecot

Then run

apt-get update

followed by:

apt-get install dovecot-imapd

One last bit of work, dovecot does not seem to be able to write to mailboxes in the default location of /var/mail/ so we have to run:

chmod o+wt /var/mail

See VarMailDotLock for more info on this (including alternatives to making /var/mail world writable).

[Is the above section still valid?]

Configuring /etc/dovecot.conf

If you have ~/Maildir created Dovecot will automatically find it and use Maildir format.

You can add a Maildir in your /etc/skel directory to have all new users automatically have a Maildir created.

If for some reason you want to force mail_location below is an example:

mail_location = maildir:/home/%u/Maildir

Configuring /etc/exim.conf

local_delivery:
driver = appendfile
group = mail
maildir_format = true
directory = /home/${local_part}/Maildir
create_directory = true
mode = 0660
mode_fail_narrower = false
envelope_to_add = true
return_path_add = true