Running Dovecot

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

#!/bin/bash

### 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

wget -O /usr/local/bin/dovecotctl https://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       164  0.0  0.0   4692  2940 ?        Ss   Jul29   0:06 /usr/local/dovecot/sbin/dovecot 
dovecot    167  0.0  0.0   4356  1148 ?        S    Jul29   0:01  \_ dovecot/anvil 
root       168  0.0  0.0   4616  2968 ?        S    Jul29   0:01  \_ dovecot/log 
root       169  0.0  0.0   7888  4796 ?        S    Jul29   0:06  \_ dovecot/config 
dovecot    344  0.0  0.0   6084  3112 ?        S    Jul29   0:04  \_ dovecot/stats 
vpopmail 16052  0.0  0.0   8760  6900 ?        S    17:26   0:00  \_ dovecot/imap-login 
dovecot  16053  0.0  0.0  10820  7744 ?        S    17:26   0:00  \_ dovecot/auth 
dovecot  16054  0.0  0.0  10836  7452 ?        S    17:26   0:00  \_ dovecot/auth -w 
vpopmail 16055  0.0  0.0  44276  9340 ?        S    17:26   0:00  \_ dovecot/imap

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 &

If you are in a systemd OS the rc.local file will be saved in /etc/rc.local and you'll have to instruct systemd to launch it at boot. To recall how to do you are invited to have a look at this comment below (tx GoofY).

It is important to setup the rc.local because all the services from now on will be launched at boot time by this script and not by daemontools.

nano /etc/systemd/system/rc-local.service

--------------------
[Unit]
Description=/etc/rc.local
ConditionPathExists=/etc/rc.local

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/etc/rc.local start
TimeoutSec=0
StandardOutput=tty
RemainAfterExit=yes
SysVStartPriority=99

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
---------------

nano /etc/rc.local

--------------------
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
/usr/local/bin/dovecotctl start &

exit 0:
---------------

chmod +x /etc/rc.local
systemctl enable rc-local
systemctl start rc-local.service