NAME

       dovecot - A secure and highly configurable IMAP and POP3 server

SYNOPSIS

       dovecot [-Fp] [-c config-file]

       dovecot -a [-c config-file]

       dovecot -n [-c config-file]

       dovecot --build-options

       dovecot --help

       dovecot --hostdomain

       dovecot --version

       dovecot reload

       dovecot stop

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's  fast,
       simple to set up, requires no special administration and it uses very little memory.

OPTIONS

       -a

           Dump all configuration settings to stdout and exit successfully. The same as doveconf -a.

       -c config-file

           Start dovecot with an alternative configuration.

       -F

           Run dovecot in foreground, do not daemonize.

       -n

           Dump non-default settings to stdout and exit successfully. The same as doveconf -n.

       -p

           Prompt for the ssl key password for the configured ssl_server_key on startup.

       --build-options

           Show Dovecot's build options and exit successfully.

       --help

           Print a usage message to stdout and exit successfully.

       --hostdomain

           Shows  the  current host.domain name of the system. If the domain lookup should fail for some reason,
           only the hostname will be shown.

       --version

           Show Dovecot's version and exit successfully.

COMMANDS

       reload

           Force dovecot to reload its configuration.

       stop

           Shutdown dovecot and all its child processes.

       When shutdown_clients is set to no, existing sessions will continue to use  the  old  settings,  after  a
       dovecot reload. Also all sessions will keep alive after a dovecot stop.

       By default all active sessions will be shut down.

SIGNALS

       Dovecot handles the following signals as described:

       HUP

           Force dovecot to reload its configuration.

       INT

           Shutdown dovecot and all its child processes.

       TERM

           Shutdown dovecot and all its child processes.

       USR1

           Force dovecot to reopen all configured log files (log_path, info_log_path and debug_log_path).

       The signals ALARM and PIPE are ignored.

FILES

       /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf

           Dovecot's main configuration file.

       /etc/dovecot/conf.d/.conf*

           Configuration files of different services and settings.

REPORTING BUGS

       Report bugs, including doveconf -n output, to the Dovecot Mailing List ⟨dovecot@dovecot.org⟩. Information
       about reporting bugs is available at: https://dovecot.org/bugreport.html

SEE ALSO

       doveadm(1)

78ffb79                                            March 2025                                         DOVECOT(1)