{
 "id": 39614,
 "slug": "dovecot-2-4-ssl-certificate-configuration-change",
 "url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/dovecot-2-4-ssl-certificate-configuration-change/",
 "language": "en",
 "title": "Dovecot 2.4 SSL Certificate Configuration Change",
 "subtitle": "ssl_cert becomes ssl_server_cert_file — and other encryption changes.",
 "summary": "Dovecot 2.4 renamed several SSL settings. If your mail server's TLS stopped working after the upgrade, this is probably why.",
 "topics": [
  "linux",
  "server"
 ],
 "created": "2026-04-03T19:49:17.951000+02:00",
 "updated": "2026-04-03T20:17:26.048000+02:00",
 "full_article_url": "https://willem.com/en/2025-06-04_breaking-changes/",
 "author": {
  "name": "Willem L. Middelkoop",
  "url": "https://willem.com"
 },
 "note": "A short distillation of a longer willem.com post. Not currently published on willem.com itself.",
 "answers_question": "Why did TLS stop working after upgrading to Dovecot 2.4?",
 "text": "In Dovecot 2.3, SSL certificates were configured with `ssl_cert` and `ssl_key`. In 2.4, these are renamed:\n- `ssl_cert` → `ssl_server_cert_file`\n- `ssl_key` → `ssl_server_key_file`\nThe old names are silently ignored — your server starts, but TLS connections fail because no certificate is loaded. This is one of the most common issues after upgrading.\nAdditionally, the `ssl = required` setting has changed syntax. Check Willem's complete migration guide for the exact new format.\nFrom the full Dovecot 2.4 migration guide.",
 "markdown_url": "https://agents.willem.com/en/snippets/dovecot-2-4-ssl-certificate-configuration-change/snippet.md"
}