Is a fresh start of container required after adding / modifying *.cf files?

[navyjosh]

Do I need to docker-compose down && docker-compose up -d after adding a new file to ./docker-data/dms/config

For example, I add a spamassassin-rules.cf file to ./docker-data/dms/config, do I need to down & up after?
What about for changes to a file that already exists?

[polarathene]

Usually changes will require this yes. Most of the configuration we support is handled at startup of the container only. Especially with content that sits in /tmp/docker-mailserver on the container, if the data isn't used by a service directly from there (it usually shouldn't), then it won't know about it until we copy it over to the proper place and adjust any necessary configuration to enable it (which is what the startup scripts do).

What about for changes to a file that already exists?

We do have support for some of these configs.

It's not documented though, often called "change detection service" / "changedetector" / check-for-changes.sh (actual script name). Here's an example of explaining the SSL / TLS support: https://github.com/orgs/docker-mailserver/discussions/3416#discussioncomment-6349363

It is presently not active when using LDAP however. Other supported configs are mostly related to setup ... commands for mail accounts and aliases. So that when changes are made from that setup CLI you don't need to restart the container every time. Recently for upcoming v13 support was added for rspamd and DKIM generation.

[navyjosh]

Thank you, I was aware that setup script changes happen immediately, and that is what made me wonder about the cf files. This answers my question.