---
name: "cyrus-ctl_mboxlist"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "cyrus-common"
version: "3.10.2-1+deb13u2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/cyrus-ctl_mboxlist"
---

# cyrus-ctl\_mboxlist(8)

Cyrus IMAP documentation Perform operations on the mailbox list database

## NAME

ctl\_mboxlist - Cyrus IMAP documentation

Perform operations on the mailbox list database

## SYNOPSIS

```
ctl_mboxlist [ -C config-file ] -d [ -x ] [-y] [ -p partition ] [ -f filename ]
ctl_mboxlist [ -C config-file ] -u [ -f filename ] [ -L ]
ctl_mboxlist [ -C config-file ] -m [ -a ] [ -w ] [ -i ] [ -f filename ]
ctl_mboxlist [ -C config-file ] -v [ -f filename ]
```

## DESCRIPTION

**ctl\_mboxlist** *is used to perform various administrative operations on* *the mailbox list database.*

**ctl\_mboxlist** *reads its configuration options out of the [imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md) file unless specified otherwise by* **-C***.* *The configdirectory option in [imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md) is used to determine the default location of the mailboxes database.*

## OPTIONS

- **-C config-file**

  *Use the specified configuration file config-file rather than the default [imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md).*

- **-d, --dump**

  *Dump the contents of the database to standard output in JSON format.*

- **-x, --remove-dumped**

  *When performing a dump, remove the mailboxes dumped from the mailbox* *list (mostly useful when specified with* **-p***).*

- **-y, --include-intermediaries**

  *When performing a dump, also list intermediary mailboxes which would* *be hidden from IMAP.*

- **-p partition, --partition=partition**

  *When performing a dump, dump only those mailboxes that live on* *partition.*

- **-f filename, --filename=filename**

  *Use the database specified by filename instead of the default* *(configdirectory/mailboxes.db\*).*

- **-L, --legacy**

  *When performing an undump, use the legacy dump parser instead of the* *JSON parser.  This might be useful for importing a dump produced* *by an older version of Cyrus.*

- **-u, --undump**

  *Load ("undump") the contents of the database from standard input.  The* *input MUST be a valid JSON file, unless the -L option is also supplied.*

  **IMPORTANT:**

  *USE THIS OPTION WITH CARE.  If you have modified the dump file since it* *was dumped, or if the file was not produced by* **-d** *in the first* *place, or was produced on a different server, you can easily break your* *mailboxes.db.  Undump will refuse to process a syntactically-invalid* *dump file, but it can't do much to protect you from a valid file* *containing bad data.*

- **-m, --sync-mupdate**

  *For backend servers in the Cyrus Murder, synchronize the local* *mailbox list file with the MUPDATE server.*

- **-a, --authoritative**

  *When used with* **-m***, assume the local mailboxes file is authoritative,* *that is, only change the mupdate server, do not delete any local* *mailboxes.*

  **IMPORTANT:**

  *USE THIS OPTION WITH CARE, as it allows namespace collisions into* *the murder.*

- **-w, --warn-only**

  *When used with* **-m***, print out what would be done but do not perform* *the operations.*

- **-i, --interactive**

  *When used with* **-m***, asks for verification before deleting local* *mailboxes.*

- **-v, --verify**

  *Verify the consistency of the mailbox list database and the spool* *partition(s). Mailboxes present in the database and not located on a* *spool partition, and those located on a spool partition (directory* *containing a valid cyrus.header file) and not present in the database* *will be reported.  Note that this function is very I/O intensive.*

## EXAMPLES

```
ctl_mboxlist -d
```

**Dump the mailboxes list to standard output in JSON format**

```
ctl_mboxlist -u < newmboxlist.dump
```

*Undump (restore) the mailboxes database from newmboxlist.dump,* *where newmboxlist.dump is a JSON file produced by* **ctl\_mboxlist -d**

**NOTE:**

*Be very careful with this option.*

```
ctl_mboxlist -m
```

**Synchronize our mailboxes database with the MUPDATE server.  (One may** **commonly put a command like this into the START section of** *[cyrus.conf(5)](/cyrus.conf/5.md)* **on backend nodes of a Murder cluster to cause** **the backend to synchronize its mailbox list with the mupdate master upon** **startup).**

```
ctl_mboxlist -m -w
```

**The same as above, but only show us what would be done, don't actually** **do it.**

```
ctl_mboxlist -m -a
```

**Populate the Mupdate server from our copy of the mailboxes database.**

**NOTE:**

**Be very careful with this option, as it can create conflicts in the** **Murder.**

```
ctl_mboxlist -m -i
```

**Synchronize our mailboxes database with the MUPDATE server interactively,** **asking for verification before deleting any local mailboxes.**

## FILES

**/etc/imapd.conf, \<configdirectory\>/mailboxes.db**

## SEE ALSO

*[imapd.conf(5)](/imapd.conf/5.md)***,** *[master(8)](/master/8.md)*

## AUTHOR

**The Cyrus Team, Nic Bernstein (Onlight), Jeroen van Meeuwen (Kolab Systems)**

## COPYRIGHT

**1993–2025, The Cyrus Team**