CTL_CONVERSATIONSDB(8) Cyrus IMAP CTL_CONVERSATIONSDB(8)

ctl_conversationsdb - Cyrus IMAP documentation

Perform operations on the conversations databases

ctl_conversationsdb [ -C config-file ] -d userid > text
ctl_conversationsdb [ -C config-file ] -u userid < text
ctl_conversationsdb [ -C config-file ] [ -v ] [ -z | -b | -R ] userid
ctl_conversationsdb [ -C config-file ] [ -v ] [ -z | -b | -R ] -r


ctl_conversationsdb is used to perform various administrative operations on a conversations database and associated information in cyrus.index files.

ctl_conversationsdb reads its configuration options out of the imapd.conf(5) file unless specified otherwise by -C.

The configdirectory option in imapd.conf(5) is used to determine the default location of the conversations database.

In the first synopsis, the -d option dumps the contents of a conversations database to standard output in an ASCII format. In the second synopsis, the resulting file is fed back in, using the -u option to "undump" from standard input. This pair of commands is useful for disaster recovery, or for changing the backend used to store the conversations database.

The third synopsis is used to reconstruct conversations information in various ways for a specific user, and the fourth to reconstruct conversations information for all users. See OPTIONS below for details.

This command was introduced in version 3.0.

Use the specified configuration file config-file rather than the default imapd.conf(5).

Dump the conversations database which corresponds to the user userid to standard output in an ASCII format. The resulting file can be used to recreate a database using the -u option.

"Undumps" the conversations database corresponding to the user userid, i.e. replaces all the entries with data from ASCII records parsed from standard input. The output from the -d option can be used as input.

Be more verbose when running.

Be recursive; apply the main operation to every user. Warning: do not combine with -u, it will not do what you expect.

Remove all conversation information from the conversations database for user userid, and from all the user's mailboxes. The information can all be recalculated (eventually) from message headers, using the -b option.

Rebuild all conversation information in the conversations database for user userid, and in all the user's mailboxes, from the header information in messages. Does not affect messages which already have conversation information.

This is a bulk mode version of what happens to each message when it arrives, and can be used to add missing conversation information for past messages, e.g. after using -z or after upgrading Cyrus from older versions. Note: this operation uses information from cyrus.cache files so it does not need to read every single message file.


Recalculate counts of messages stored in existing conversations in the conversations database for user userid. This is a limited subset of -b; in particular it does not create conversations or assign messages to conversations.

If given with -b, allows splitting of conversations during the rewrite. Only do this if changing the maximum conversation size and you need to split those existing conversations.

[NB: Examples needed]

This command was introduced in version 3.0.

/etc/imapd.conf, <configurationdir>/conversations.db

imapd.conf(5), master(8)

The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight)

1993–2024, The Cyrus Team

March 13, 2024 3.8.2