--- a/VirtualMailManager/common.py	Thu Jul 29 04:01:43 2010 +0000
+++ b/VirtualMailManager/common.py	Thu Jul 29 19:14:19 2010 +0000
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 import os
 import re
+import stat
 
 from VirtualMailManager import ENCODING
 from VirtualMailManager.constants import \
@@ -39,16 +40,15 @@
     return unicode(string, ENCODING, 'replace')
 
 
-def is_dir(path):
-    """Checks if `path` is a directory.
-
-    Throws a `VMMError` if `path` is not a directory.
+def lisdir(path):
+    """Checks if `path` is a directory.  Doesn't follow symbolic links.
+    Returns bool.
     """
-    path = expand_path(path)
-    if not os.path.isdir(path):
-        raise VMMError(_(u"'%s' is not a directory") % get_unicode(path),
-                       NO_SUCH_DIRECTORY)
-    return path
+    try:
+        lstat = os.lstat(path)
+    except OSError:
+        return False
+    return stat.S_ISDIR(lstat.st_mode)
 
 
 def exec_ok(binary):

--- a/VirtualMailManager/config.py	Thu Jul 29 04:01:43 2010 +0000
+++ b/VirtualMailManager/config.py	Thu Jul 29 19:14:19 2010 +0000
@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@
      ParsingError, RawConfigParser
 from cStringIO import StringIO# TODO: move interactive stff to cli
 
-from VirtualMailManager.common import exec_ok, get_unicode, is_dir, version_hex
+from VirtualMailManager.common import \
+     exec_ok, expand_path, get_unicode, lisdir, version_hex
 from VirtualMailManager.constants import CONF_ERROR
 from VirtualMailManager.errors import ConfigError, VMMError
 from VirtualMailManager.maillocation import known_format
@@ -411,6 +412,17 @@
         return not errors
 
 
+def is_dir(path):
+    """Check if the expanded path is a directory.  When the expanded path
+    is a directory the expanded path will be returned.  Otherwise a
+    ConfigValueError will be raised.
+    """
+    path = expand_path(path)
+    if lisdir(path):
+        return path
+    raise ConfigValueError(_(u"No such directory: %s") % get_unicode(path))
+
+
 def check_mailbox_format(format):
     """
     Check if the mailbox format *format* is supported.  When the *format*

--- a/VirtualMailManager/mailbox.py	Thu Jul 29 04:01:43 2010 +0000
+++ b/VirtualMailManager/mailbox.py	Thu Jul 29 19:14:19 2010 +0000
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
 
 from VirtualMailManager.account import Account
-from VirtualMailManager.common import is_dir
+from VirtualMailManager.common import lisdir
 from VirtualMailManager.errors import VMMError
 from VirtualMailManager.constants import VMM_ERROR
 
@@ -94,8 +94,7 @@
         Creates a new mailbox instance.
         Use one of the `Maildir`, `SingleDbox` or `MultiDbox` classes.
         """
-        assert isinstance(account, Account)
-        is_dir(account.home)
+        assert isinstance(account, Account) and lisdir(account.home)
         self._user = account
         self._boxes = []
         self._root = self._user.mail_location.directory