I have a server which is using openvpn to raise some network interface. Due to some updates I had to include the net.tun0 in /etc/conf.d/net to make /etc/init.d/sshd happy (otherwise it ran dhcpcd on my tun0 interface while overwriting its IP address which was properly setup by openvpn -- and it did received no answer from dhcpd so it just cleared the assigned IP address). I do not know whether the dovecot issue is yet another change cause by some "upgrade". I did work for several years so far. So, my problem is dovecot is started quite early during bootup before openvpn is started. Therefore, tun0 device does not exist yet. I propose openvpn is started as soon as possible after some network interface is enabled. # emerge --info WARNING: One or more repositories have missing repo_name entries: /var/lib/layman/profiles/repo_name NOTE: Each repo_name entry should be a plain text file containing a unique name for the repository on the first line. Portage 2.2.18 (python 2.7.9-final-0, default/linux/amd64/13.0, gcc-4.8.4, glibc-2.20-r2, 3.18.19-default x86_64) ================================================================= System uname: Linux-3.18.19-default-x86_64-Intel-R-_Core-TM-2_Quad_CPU_Q9650_@_3.00GHz-with-gentoo-2.2 KiB Mem: 16409896 total, 4276184 free KiB Swap: 15647296 total, 15647296 free Timestamp of repository gentoo: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 22:30:01 +0000 sh bash 4.2_p53 ld GNU ld (Gentoo 2.24 p1.4) 2.24 distcc 3.1 x86_64-pc-linux-gnu [disabled] app-shells/bash: 4.2_p53::gentoo dev-java/java-config: 2.2.0::gentoo dev-lang/perl: 5.20.2::gentoo dev-lang/python: 2.7.9-r1::gentoo, 3.3.5-r1::gentoo dev-util/cmake: 2.8.12.2-r1::gentoo dev-util/pkgconfig: 0.28-r2::gentoo sys-apps/baselayout: 2.2::gentoo sys-apps/openrc: 0.13.11::gentoo sys-apps/sandbox: 2.6-r1::gentoo sys-devel/autoconf: 2.13::gentoo, 2.69::gentoo sys-devel/automake: 1.4_p6-r1::gentoo, 1.5-r1::gentoo, 1.9.6-r3::gentoo, 1.10.3::gentoo, 1.11.6::gentoo, 1.12.6::gentoo, 1.13.4::gentoo, 1.15::gentoo sys-devel/binutils: 2.24-r3::gentoo sys-devel/gcc: 4.3.5::gentoo, 4.4.7::gentoo, 4.5.4::gentoo, 4.6.3::gentoo, 4.7.3-r1::gentoo, 4.8.4::gentoo sys-devel/gcc-config: 1.7.3::gentoo sys-devel/libtool: 2.4.6::gentoo sys-devel/make: 4.1-r1::gentoo sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.18::gentoo (virtual/os-headers) sys-libs/glibc: 2.20-r2::gentoo Repositories: gentoo location: /usr/portage sync-type: rsync sync-uri: rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage priority: -1000 science location: /var/lib/layman/science masters: gentoo priority: 0 x-portage location: /usr/local/portage masters: gentoo priority: 1 x-layman location: /var/lib/layman masters: gentoo priority: 2 ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="amd64" ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA dlj-1.1 sun-bcla-java-vm Oracle-BCLA-JavaSE" CBUILD="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native" CHOST="x86_64-pc-linux-gnu" CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/share/config /usr/share/easy-rsa /usr/share/gnupg/qualified.txt /usr/share/polkit-1/actions /var/bind /var/lib/hsqldb /var/spool/torque" CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/dconf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/php/apache2-php5.4/ext-active/ /etc/php/apache2-php5.5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5.4/ext-active/ /etc/php/cgi-php5.5/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5.4/ext-active/ /etc/php/cli-php5.5/ext-active/ /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo" CXXFLAGS="-O2 -pipe -march=native" DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles" FCFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs config-protect-if-modified distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles merge-sync news nostrip parallel-fetch preserve-libs protect-owned sandbox sfperms splitdebug strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch userpriv usersandbox usersync" FFLAGS="-O2 -pipe" GENTOO_MIRRORS="rsync://ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/linux/gentoo/ rsync://gentoo.mirror.dkm.cz/gentoo/ ftp://gentoo.mirror.web4u.cz/" LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed" MAKEOPTS="-j5" PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages" PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/" PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --omit-dir-times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages" PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp" USE="X accessibility alsa amd64 amr apache apache2 berkdb bzip2 cairo cgi cli cracklib crypt cups cxx dbus device-mapper dri encode ffmpeg flac fontconfig fortran gd gdbm geoip gnutls hal iconv id3tag innodb java jce jpeg jpg kde ladspa laptop mad maildir mmx mmxext modules mpi mpich2 multilib mysql ncurses nfs nls nptl nptlonly nsplugin ogg opengl openmp openssl pam pcre perl php png policykit postfix procmail python qt3support qt4 readline sasl server session sndfile spf sse sse2 ssl suexec svg syslog tcpd threads tiff truetype unicode usb wavpack xml xorg xvfb zlib" ABI_X86="64 32" ALSA_CARDS="ali5451 als4000 atiixp atiixp-modem bt87x ca0106 cmipci emu10k1x ens1370 ens1371 es1938 es1968 fm801 hda-intel intel8x0 intel8x0m maestro3 trident usb-audio via82xx via82xx-modem ymfpci" APACHE2_MODULES="authn_core authz_core socache_shmcb unixd actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump author" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" CPU_FLAGS_X86="mmx mmxext sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 ssse3" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ublox ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="keyboard mouse evdev" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LIBREOFFICE_EXTENSIONS="presenter-console presenter-minimizer" LINGUAS="en cs cz" OFFICE_IMPLEMENTATION="libreoffice" PHP_TARGETS="php5-5" PYTHON_SINGLE_TARGET="python2_7" PYTHON_TARGETS="python2_7 python3_3" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby19 ruby20" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="vesa" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account" Unset: CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LANG, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, USE_PYTHON
something like rc_after=openvpn in /etc/conf.d/dovecot should work. Google for more info.