Re: Migration murder from 3.2 to 3.10 (Debian 11 to 13) – frontend to backend auth error

Hello,

-----Original Message-----
From: Wolfgang Breyha via Info <[email protected]>
Date: 02/03/26 17:22:56

On 27/02/2026 11:33, Frank Richter wrote:
>> Oh. I hoped to migrate all the mailboxes with XFER from 3.2.11 backends to
>> the new 3.10, and finally upgrade the mupdate master  and frontends,
>> according to
> If you do not use
> proved_mboxlist_sort: 1
> yet switch to it on 3.2 or your migration will fail.

The procedure to toggle `improved_mboxlist_sort` is described at https://www.cyrusimap.org/3.8/imap/developer/thoughts/improved_mboxlist_sort.html.  Since Cyrus 3.4, 3.6 (or something else) the option `improved_mboxlist_sort` does nothing — https://github.com/cyrusimap/cyrus-imapd/pull/4559 - irrespective of when the documentation of Cyrus IMAP was updated to state so.

The procedure to switch `improved_mboxlist_sort` suggests exporting the mailboxses database with `ctl_mboxlist -d` and later “undumping” with `ctl_mboxlist -u` .  However `ctl_mboxlist -d` for a while has not dumped all fields in all Cyrus IMAP versions - https://github.com/cyrusimap/cyrus-imapd/pull/4069 and https://github.com/cyrusimap/cyrus-imapd/pull/3384.  If this is going to be used in
older versions, it has to be checked in `ctl_mboxlist.c` what is backported to which versions and what not.

I personally have given up all tries to backport useful things.  These backports do not depend on me and should be initialetd by the person, who fixes a concrete bug.  This should be done also promptly when there is knowledge about a problem, not months later.  I knew few years ago the details about `ctl_mboxlist -d/-u` and `improved_mboxlist_sort` (since I started filling in `ctl_mboxlist -d/-u` the missing fields) but now to get the details, one has to check in the git history.

So if improved_mboxlist_sort has to be enabled, then first a switch to a Cyrus Imap version must be made, where `ctl_mboxlist -d/-u` handles all fields.

However, I can neither confirm nor deny that a switch to `improved_mboxlist_sort:1` is necessary before this option is removed from Cyrus IMAP. If it is nesessary, some note should be added to upgrade instructions for the versions, where this is needed.

A litte bit help in amending the documentation for Cyrus IMAP by everybody, who faces obstacles, will help make Cyrus IMAP more useful for everybody.

Greetirns // Дилян



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