Have you tried to add a section name, like
passdb auth {
}
Also if you have only few/one passdb, the section name can default as
driver, like
passdb sql {
...
}
That said, args no longer works in 2.4, see
https://doc.dovecot.org/latest/core/config/auth/databases/sql.html how to
configure it.
Aki
On 27/12/2025 02:42 EET John Hill via dovecot <[1][email protected]>
wrote:
Hello,
I'm encountering a reproducible parsing issue in Dovecot 2.4 on Debian
13 (Trixie).
Even when /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext contains a valid passdb
block,
Dovecot reports that the block is empty.
Environment:
- Debian 13 (Trixie)
- Dovecot 2.4 (from Debian repository)
- Clean install, no custom patches
Error:
doveconf: Fatal: Error in configuration file
/etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext line 1: passdb { } is missing
section name
Steps to reproduce:
1. Remove the file:
rm -f /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext
2. Recreate it cleanly:
cat > /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext <<'EOF'
passdb {
driver = sql
args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext
}
userdb {
driver = sql
args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext
}
EOF
3. Verify the file contents:
sed -n '1,20p' /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext | cat -A
Output:
passdb {$
driver = sql$
args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext$
}$
$
userdb {$
driver = sql$
args = /etc/dovecot/sql.conf.ext$
}$
4. Run:
doveconf
Actual result:
Dovecot still reports that the passdb block is empty, even though the
file is valid.
Expected result:
Dovecot should accept the passdb block and load SQL authentication
normally.
Additional notes:
- No BOM (ef bb bf) present.
- No CRLF (^M) present.
- No stray characters.
- File is not a symlink.
- No duplicate auth-sql.conf.ext files exist.
- The include line in 10-auth.conf is correct.
- The error persists even after full deletion and recreation of the
file.
This appears to be a parser or include-path issue in Dovecot 2.4.
Any guidance or confirmation would be appreciated.
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