Running Dovecot

I have adjusted the startup script distributed by Dovecot and saved it as /usr/local/bin/dovecotctl:

#!/bin/sh

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          dovecot
# Required-Start:    $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog $time
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs $remote_fs $network $syslog
# Should-Start:      postgresql mysql slapd winbind
# Should-Stop:       postgresql mysql slapd winbind
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Dovecot init script
# Description:       Init script for dovecot services
### END INIT INFO

# Example /etc/init.d/dovecot script. Change DAEMON if necessary.
# License is public domain.

DAEMON=/usr/local/dovecot/sbin/dovecot

# Uncomment to allow Dovecot daemons to produce core dumps.
#ulimit -c unlimited

test -x $DAEMON || exit 1
set -e

base_dir=`$DAEMON config -h base_dir`
pidfile=$base_dir/master.pid

if test -f $pidfile; then
  running=yes
else
  running=no
fi

case "$1" in
  start)
    echo -n "Starting Dovecot"
    $DAEMON
    echo "."
    ;;
  stop)
    if test $running = yes; then
      echo "Stopping Dovecot"
      kill `cat $pidfile`
      echo "."
    else
      echo "Dovecot is already stopped."
    fi
    ;;
  reload)
    if test $running = yes; then
      echo -n "Reloading Dovecot configuration"
      kill -HUP `cat $pidfile`
      echo "."
    else
      echo "Dovecot isn't running."
    fi
    ;;
  restart|force-reload)
    echo -n "Restarting Dovecot"
    if test $running = yes; then
      kill `cat $pidfile`
      sleep 1
    fi
    $DAEMON
    echo "."
    ;;
  *)
    echo "Usage: dovecotctl {start|stop|reload|restart|force-reload}" >&2
    exit 1
    ;;
esac

exit 0

cd /usr/local/bin
wget http://notes.sagredo.eu/files/qmail/dovecotctl
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/dovecotctl

Run Dovecot and that's what you should see:

> dovecotctl
Usage: dovecotctl {start|stop|reload|restart|force-reload}

> dovecotctl start
Starting Dovecot.

> ps axfu
root     27006  0.0  0.0  21640  1068 ?        Ss   14:30   0:00 /usr/local/dovecot/sbin/dovecot
vpopmail 27007  0.0  0.0  13156  1044 ?        S    14:30   0:00  \_ dovecot/anvil
root     27008  0.0  0.0  13284  1232 ?        S    14:30   0:00  \_ dovecot/log
root     27010  0.0  0.1  27900  3468 ?        S    14:30   0:00  \_ dovecot/config

Running Dovecot at boot time

To run Dovecot at boot time simply add a line like this into your /etc/rc.d/rc.local

/usr/local/bin/dovecotctl start &