this is obsolete doc -- see http://doc.nethence.com/ instead

Configuring Dovecot v1 against Maildir folders on FreeBSD 8 

Install the provided package, 

echo $PACKAGESITE

pkg_add -r dovecot

Enable the daemon, 

cd /etc/

cp /usr/local/etc/rc.d/dovecot rc.d/

echo dovecot_enable=YES >> rc.conf

Configure the daemon, 

cd /etc/

ln -s ../usr/local/etc/dovecot.conf

cd /usr/local/etc/

mv dovecot.conf dovecot.conf.dist

sed '/^[[:space:]]*#/d; /^[[:space:]]*$/d' dovecot.conf.dist | tee dovecot.conf > dovecot.conf.dist.clean

vi dovecot.conf

edit to your taste, restrict it to imap service, e.g., 

protocols = imap

disable_plaintext_auth = yes

mail_location = maildir:~/Maildir/

mail_privileged_group = mail

dotlock_use_excl = yes

verbose_proctitle = yes

first_valid_uid = 1000

first_valid_gid = 6

maildir_copy_with_hardlinks = yes

protocol imap {

  imap_client_workarounds = tb-extra-mailbox-sep

}

auth_username_format = %Lu

auth default {

  mechanisms = plain login

  passdb pam {

    args = session=yes dovecot

  }

  userdb passwd {

    args = blocking=yes

  }

  user = root

}

ssl = yes

verbose_ssl = yes

ssl_cert_file = /etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem

ssl_key_file = /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem

Generate a self-signed certificate using the provided script by Dovecot. 

mkdir -p /etc/ssl/certs/ /etc/ssl/private/

cd /etc/ssl/

cp /usr/local/share/examples/dovecot/mkcert.sh .

cp /usr/local/share/examples/dovecot/dovecot-openssl.cnf .

cp dovecot-openssl.cnf dovecot-openssl.cnf.dist

vi dovecot-openssl.cnf

#mv certs/dovecot.pem certs/dovecot.pem.old

#mv private/dovecot.pem private/dovecot.pem.old

mv mkcert.sh mkcert.sh.dist

sed 's/365/3650/g' mkcert.sh.dist > mkcert.sh

chmod +x mkcert.sh

diff -u mkcert.sh.dist mkcert.sh

./mkcert.sh

(copy/paste the fingerprint into FINGER file for exemple)

ls -l certs/ private/

Ref. SSL certificate creation: http://wiki2.dovecot.org/SSL/CertificateCreation 

Now edit the Dovecot configuration file again, 

vi /etc/dovecot.conf

change, 

disable_plaintext_auth = yes

and add, 

ssl = yes

verbose_ssl = yes

ssl_cert_file = /etc/ssl/certs/dovecot.pem

ssl_key_file = /etc/ssl/private/dovecot.pem

Ready to go 

Check the version, 

/usr/local/sbin/dovecot --version

Finally start the daemon, 

  ps aux | grep dove

cd /etc/

grep dove passwd

grep dove group

note. should return, 

dovecot:*:143:143:Dovecot User:/var/empty:/usr/sbin/nologin

dovecot:*:143:

then continue, 

rc.d/dovecot start

  ps aux | grep dove

Check that everything is fine through an IMAP session, 

telnet mx.example.net 143

e.g., 

a login MAILUSER PASSWORD 

a select inbox

a list "" *

a fetch 1 full

a fetch 1 body[text]

Checkthat STARTTLS is working, 

openssl s_client -connect imap.example.com:143 -starttls imap

a logout

If you wanted to check for SSL you would, 

#openssl s_client -connect imap.example.com:993

#a logout

References 

protocole imap: log d'une session telnet: http://www.iprelax.fr/imap/imap_session.php