.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Dovecot authors, see the included COPYING file
.TH DOVECOT 1M "2010-07-02" "Dovecot v2.0" "Dovecot"
.SH NAME
dovecot \- a secure and highly configurable IMAP and POP3 server
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBdovecot\fP [\fB\-Fp\fP] [\fB\-c\fP \fIconfig\-file\fP]
.br
.B dovecot \-a
[\fB\-c\fP \fIconfig\-file\fP]
.br
.B dovecot \-n
[\fB\-c\fP \fIconfig\-file\fP]
.br
.B dovecot \-\-build\-options
.br
.B dovecot \-\-help
.br
.B dovecot \-\-version
.br
.B dovecot reload
.br
.B dovecot stop
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH DESCRIPTION
Dovecot is an open source IMAP and POP3 server for Linux/UNIX\-like
systems, written with security primarily in mind.
Dovecot is an excellent choice for both small and large installations.
It\(aqs fast, simple to set up, requires no special administration and it
uses very little memory.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH OPTIONS
.TP
.B \-a
Dump all configuration settings to stdout and exit successfully.
The same as
.IR doveconf\ \-a .
.TP
.BI \-c\  config\-file
Start
.B dovecot
with an alternative configuration.
.TP
.B \-F
Run
.B dovecot
in foreground, do not daemonize.
.TP
.B \-n
Dump non\-default settings to stdout and exit successfully.
The same as
.IR doveconf\ \-n .
.TP
.B \-p
Prompt for the ssl key password for the configured
.I ssl_key
on startup.
.TP
.B \-\-build\-options
Show Dovecot\(aqs build options and exit successfully.
.TP
.B \-\-help
Print a usage message to stdout and exit successfully.
.TP
.B \-\-version
Show Dovecot\(aqs version and exit successfully.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH COMMANDS
.TP
.B reload
Force
.B dovecot
to reload its configuration.
.TP
.B stop
Shutdown
.B dovecot
and all its child processes.
.PP
When
.I shutdown_clients
is set to
.BR no ,
existing sessions will continue to use the old settings, after a
.BR "dovecot reload" .
Also all sessions will keep alive after a
.BR "dovecot stop" .
.br
By default all active sessions will be shut down.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH SIGNALS
Dovecot handles the following
.I signals
as described:
.TP
.B HUP
Force
.B dovecot
to reload its configuration.
.TP
.B INT
Shutdown
.B dovecot
and all its child processes.
.TP
.B TERM
Shutdown
.B dovecot
and all its child processes.
.TP
.B USR1
Force
.B dovecot
to reopen all configured log files (\c
.IR log_path ,
.IR info_log_path\  and
.IR debug_log_path ).
.
.PP
The
.I signals
.BR ALARM\  and
.B PIPE
are ignored.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH FILES
.TP
.I /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
Dovecot\(aqs main configuration file.
.TP
.I /etc/dovecot/conf.d/dovecot\-ldap.conf
Dovecot\(aqs LDAP authdb/userdb module configuration file.
.TP
.I /etc/dovecot/conf.d/dovecot\-sql.conf
Dovecot\(aqs SQL authdb/userdb module configuration file.
.TP
.I /etc/dovecot/conf.d/dovecot\-dict\-sql.conf
Dovecot\(aqs dict configuration with SQL\-backend.
.TP
.I /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth\-*\-conf.ext
Configuration files of different authentication modules.
.TP
.I /etc/dovecot/conf.d/*.conf
Configuration files of different services and settings.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs, including
.I doveconf \-n
output, to the Dovecot Mailing List <dovecot@dovecot.org>.
Information about reporting bugs is available at:
http://dovecot.org/bugreport.html
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH AUTHOR
Dovecot <http://dovecot.org> and its manual pages were written by the
Dovecot authors <http://dovecot.org/doc/AUTHORS>, mainly Timo Sirainen <tss
at iki.fi>, and are licensed under the terms of the MIT and LGPLv2.1
licenses, see <http://dovecot.org/doc/COPYING> for details.
.\"------------------------------------------------------------------------
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR doveadm (1M),
.BR doveconf (1M),
.BR dovecot\-lda (1M),
.BR dsync (1M)