Dovecot (software)

<h2 id="features">Features</h2>
<p>Dovecot can work with standard <a href="/facts/Mbox/r6eBSz0L">mbox</a>, <a href="/facts/Maildir/styR8olS">Maildir</a>, and its own native high-performance <i>dbox</i> formats.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> It is fully compatible with <a href="/facts/UW_IMAP/EaM5wsv9">UW IMAP</a> and <a href="/facts/Courier_IMAP/XwCvy7M5">Courier IMAP</a> servers' implementation of them, as well as mail clients accessing the mailboxes directly.
</p><p>Dovecot also includes a mail delivery agent (called <i>Local delivery agent</i> in Dovecot's documentation) and an <a href="/facts/LMTP/mulAbb01">LMTP</a> server, with the optional <a href="/facts/Sieve_(mail_filtering_language)/f7SqrcKv">Sieve</a> filtering support.
</p><p>Dovecot supports a variety of authentication schemas for <a href="/facts/IMAP/QMnyvUwk">IMAP</a>, <a href="/facts/Post_Office_Protocol/QCp6qJQm">POP</a> and <a href="/facts/Message_submission_agent/Ap4CmKuC">message submission agent</a> (MSA) access, including <a href="/facts/CRAM-MD5/4abnp1df">CRAM-MD5</a> and the more secure <a href="/facts/DIGEST-MD5/V1tmcv5h">DIGEST-MD5</a>.
</p><p>With version 2.2, some new features have been added to Dovecot, e.g. additional IMAP command extensions, dsync has been rewritten or optimized, and shared mailboxes now support per-user flags.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a>
</p><p>Version 2.3 adds a <a href="/facts/Message_submission_agent/Ap4CmKuC">message submission agent</a>, Lua scripting for authentication, and some other improvements.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a>
</p><p><a href="/facts/Apple_Inc./oTJYta3k">Apple Inc.</a> includes Dovecot for <a href="/facts/Email/6pD9GLtI">email</a> services since <a href="/facts/Mac_OS_X_Server/KQxtGUEA">Mac OS X Server 10.6 Snow Leopard</a>.
</p><p>In 2017, <a href="/facts/Mozilla/FevL9Itn">Mozilla</a>, via the Mozilla Open Source Support program, conducted a security audit on the Dovecot software, the first public audit of the Dovecot code.  The team that performed the audit was extremely impressed with the quality of the dovecot code, writing that "despite much effort and thoroughly all-encompassing approach, the Cure53 testers only managed to assert the excellent security-standing of Dovecot. More specifically, only three minor security issues have been found in the codebase, thus translating to an exceptionally good outcome for Dovecot, and a true testament to the fact that keeping security promises is at the core of the Dovecot development and operations.".<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul>
<li>Free and open-source software portal</li></ul>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Comparison_of_mail_servers/59YCMzxV">Comparison of mail servers</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.dovecot.org/">Official website</a> </li>
<li><a href="https://doc.dovecot.org/">Official docs</a> with how-tos and documentation</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>"Dovecot website". Retrieved 2017-01-18. <a href="https://www.dovecot.org/" target="_blank">https://www.dovecot.org/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Sirainen, Timo (2019-03-01). "Dovecot's global market share grows to 76%". Open-Xchange. Archived from the original on 2020-03-05. Retrieved 2020-03-05. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20200305023925/https://www.open-xchange.com/about-ox/ox-blog/article/dovecots-global-market-share-grows-to-76/" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20200305023925/https://www.open-xchange.com/about-ox/ox-blog/article/dovecots-global-market-share-grows-to-76/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>"dbox Mailbox Format". Dovecot v2.x Wiki. 2012-10-30. Retrieved 2024-07-17. <a href="https://doc.dovecot.org/admin_manual/mailbox_formats/dbox/" target="_blank">https://doc.dovecot.org/admin_manual/mailbox_formats/dbox/</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:4"><p>"v2.2.0 released". 2013-04-12. Retrieved 2013-06-17. <a href="http://www.dovecot.org/list/dovecot-news/2013-April/000251.html" target="_blank">http://www.dovecot.org/list/dovecot-news/2013-April/000251.html</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:5"><p>"v2.3.0 released". 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2018-03-12. <a href="https://dovecot.org/list/dovecot-news/2017-December/000366.html" target="_blank">https://dovecot.org/list/dovecot-news/2017-December/000366.html</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:6"><p>"Mozilla Security Audit". Retrieved 2017-01-13. <a href="https://wiki.mozilla.org/MOSS/Secure_Open_Source/Completed#dovecot" target="_blank">https://wiki.mozilla.org/MOSS/Secure_Open_Source/Completed#dovecot</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Dovecot (software) open-in-new

Dovecot (software)