There is currently no mechanism to disable the initgroups() call for the POP server only. As you've noted, it's very definitely necessary for the IMAP server. It shouldn't be too difficult to put in such a feature if it turns out that's the only feasible solution.
Hi Mark,
I'd be very interested in such a feature. I'm even willing to take a first crack at it if you can give me some hints as to how, in that code segment, I might cleanly be able to determine whether it's being used from ipop3d.
However, IMHO disabling initgroups() for POP is just a band-aid for the real problem, which is the performance problem in initgroups() when used with NIS. This is something that should be taken up with your NIS vendor. The problem isn't going to go away and will get worse, even with the band-aid.
I agree, however a band-aid is all I need here and I'm stuck with NIS for the time being. This mail server (and surrounding infrastructure) only has a finite lifetime, but it's long enough that I'd like to make it work better in the meantime.
Thanks, Steve