[GH-ISSUE #1826] crontab error -- no cron jobs ran on clean install when not using dovecot #1430

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opened 2026-02-27 11:17:04 +03:00 by kerem · 2 comments

kerem commented

2026-02-27 11:17:04 +03:00

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Originally created by @lazynooblet on GitHub (Jan 19, 2020).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/modoboa/modoboa/issues/1826

Impacted versions

Modoboa: 1.14.0
installer used: Yes
Webserver: Nginx

Steps to reproduce

Install modoboa using installer with MDA disabled (dovecot disabled, no local mail).

Current behavior

crontab is created however the "vmail" user doesn't exist, so crontab ignores the file

Expected behavior

crontab to have the vmail entry commented out if MDA doesn't exist

Error message

By enabling /var/log/cron.log we can see the following message:

Error: bad username; while reading /etc/cron.d/modoboa
(*system*modoboa) ERROR (Syntax error, this crontab file will be ignored)

Steps to fix post-install

Comment out the following entry from /etc/cron.d/modoboa
* * * * * vmail $PYTHON $INSTANCE/manage.py handle_mailbox_operations

Originally created by @lazynooblet on GitHub (Jan 19, 2020). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/modoboa/modoboa/issues/1826 ### Impacted versions * Modoboa: 1.14.0 * installer used: **Yes** * Webserver: Nginx ### Steps to reproduce Install modoboa using installer with MDA disabled (dovecot disabled, no local mail). ### Current behavior crontab is created however the "vmail" user doesn't exist, so crontab ignores the file ### Expected behavior crontab to have the vmail entry commented out if MDA doesn't exist ### Error message By enabling /var/log/cron.log we can see the following message: ``` Error: bad username; while reading /etc/cron.d/modoboa (*system*modoboa) ERROR (Syntax error, this crontab file will be ignored) ``` ### Steps to fix post-install Comment out the following entry from /etc/cron.d/modoboa `* * * * * vmail $PYTHON $INSTANCE/manage.py handle_mailbox_operations`

kerem closed this issue

2026-02-27 11:17:04 +03:00

kerem commented

2026-02-27 11:17:05 +03:00

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@tonioo commented on GitHub (Feb 4, 2020):

@stalks Thanks for reporting this. Could you please move this issue to the modoboa-installer repository?

@tonioo commented on GitHub (Feb 4, 2020): @stalks Thanks for reporting this. Could you please move this issue to the modoboa-installer repository?

kerem commented

2026-02-27 11:17:05 +03:00

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Owner

@tonioo commented on GitHub (Mar 4, 2020):

Fixed by github.com/modoboa/modoboa-installer@b5aa1bc7e7.

@tonioo commented on GitHub (Mar 4, 2020): Fixed by https://github.com/modoboa/modoboa-installer/commit/b5aa1bc7e7b4537f3275e6812ea7bb5a8f146cd3.

kerem referenced this issue

2026-02-27 12:09:57 +03:00

[PR #1432] [MERGED] fix import command #2227