[Pkg-shadow-devel] Permissions of /var/mail/$USER

[Bjørn Mork]

Nicolas François <nicolas.francois at centraliens.net> writes:

> When an user is created, useradd creates a /var/mail/$USER mailbox with
> the mode 0660 (owned by $USER:mail).
>
> I heard this causes some issues for dovecot, and a solution could be to
> move to mode 0600.

Where did you hear this?

Exactly what did you hear?

Is this documented in a bug report?

Maybe some reference(s) to the bug report(s) would make it easier for
the rest of us to understand the issues? 


> Here is an extract from the Debian policy:
>
>      Mailboxes are generally either mode 600 and owned by <user> or mode
>      660 and owned by `<user>:mail'[3].  The local system administrator may
>      choose a different permission scheme; packages should not make
>      assumptions about the permission and ownership of mailboxes unless
>      required (such as when creating a new mailbox). 

Anyway, doesn't this make any dovecot issue a policy violation?  Or am I
misunderstanding the "packages should not make assumptions about the
permission and ownership of mailboxes" part?


Bjørn