When using dovecot-1.2.11-r0 I notice the following problem when using the dovecot deliver lda and trying to start dovecot:

Mar 18 12:27:33 auth(default): Error: bind(/var/run/dovecot/auth-master) failed: No such file or directory
Mar 18 12:27:33 auth(default): Fatal: net_listen_unix(/var/run/dovecot/auth-master) failed: No such file or directory
Mar 18 12:27:33 dovecot: Fatal: Auth process died too early - shutting down

I have the following in /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf:

        socket listen {
                # These lines below are for the deliver lda
                master {
                        path =  /var/run/dovecot/auth-master
                        mode    = 0660
                        user    = vmail
                        group   = vmail
                        }
                }

Running ls -l /var/run shows no dovecot directory in /var/run

To work around the problem the dovecot can be manually created as root. Starting dovecot then succeeds, and the auth-master file is created with the correct permissions.

Perhaps the /var/run/dovecot directory be created automatically when dovecot is installed, or dovecot is started? Could this be a permissions problem of some sort?

(from redmine: issue id 332, created on 2010-03-18, closed on 2010-04-29)

• Changesets:
  • Revision 5e1ecf7e on 2010-03-21T15:14:36Z:

main/dovecot: create /var/run/dovecot dir

fixes #332

• Revision 47bfd5f5 on 2010-03-22T09:28:31Z:

main/dovecot: create /var/run/dovecot dir

fixes #332
(cherry picked from commit 5e1ecf7ef52c947fd7407546d7fb7586341f90ed)