exim startup problems

I

icer

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Jun 10, 2005
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22
exim is not running, even on a reboot.

nothing shows in /var/log/exim and all is chmod 755 and 644.

-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:21 exim_mainlog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_paniclog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_rejectlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 12 Jun 12 14:24 mainlog@ -> exim_mainlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 13 Jun 12 14:25 paniclog@ -> exim_paniclog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 14 Jun 12 14:25 rejectlog@ -> exim_rejectlog


my /var/log/messages shows:

Jun 12 15:04:10 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:04:10 exim 4.50 daemon started: pid=93577, -q1h, listening for SMTP on port 25 (IPv4)
Jun 12 15:04:10 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:04:10 Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 15:04:10 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above


Proof of concept that mail can read/write to mainlog...

-[Sun Jun 12]-[03:03:30]-[/var/log/exim]
-[mail@elatha]$ touch hi
-[Sun Jun 12]-[03:03:39]-[/var/log/exim]
-[mail@elatha]$ ls -la
total 8
drwx--x--x 2 mail mail 512 Jun 12 15:03 .
drwxr-x--- 8 root wheel 3072 Jun 12 14:56 ..
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:21 exim_mainlog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_paniclog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_rejectlog
-rw-r--r-- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 15:03 hi
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 12 Jun 12 14:24 mainlog -> exim_mainlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 13 Jun 12 14:25 paniclog -> exim_paniclog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 14 Jun 12 14:25 rejectlog -> exim_rejectlog
-[Sun Jun 12]-[03:03:41]-[/var/log/exim]
-[mail@elatha]$ rm -rf hi
-[Sun Jun 12]-[03:03:43]-[/var/log/exim]
-[mail@elatha]$ echo hello > mainlog
-[Sun Jun 12]-[03:03:50]-[/var/log/exim]
-[mail@elatha]$ ls -la
total 10
drwx--x--x 2 mail mail 512 Jun 12 15:03 .
drwxr-x--- 8 root wheel 3072 Jun 12 14:56 ..
-rw------- 1 mail mail 6 Jun 12 14:21 exim_mainlog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_paniclog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_rejectlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 12 Jun 12 14:24 mainlog -> exim_mainlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 13 Jun 12 14:25 paniclog -> exim_paniclog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 14 Jun 12 14:25 rejectlog -> exim_rejectlog
-[Sun Jun 12]-[03:03:50]-[/var/log/exim]
-[mail@elatha]$cat mainlog
hello

mail:*:12:6:User &:/var/log/exim:/usr/local/bin/bash

--------------------------

see? Whats up with it? why cant i get exim to start?
 
Have you tried starting it manually?

# /sbin/service exim start

When you do this look in the /var/log/messages to see what if any error shouws up and post the error here.

Regards,
Onno Vrijburg
 
[root@elatha][~]$ exim start

^C
exim: SIGINT received - message abandoned
2005-06-12 15:41:32 1DhLBh-000P2H-UF Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
2005-06-12 15:41:32 1DhLBh-000P2H-UF SIGINT received while reading local message
2005-06-12 15:41:32 1DhLBh-000P2H-UF Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above

thats it.

exim start <-- that works, but still my /var/log/messages gets flooded wiht all these messages.

[root@elatha][/var/log/exim]$ tm
Jun 12 15:39:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 15:39:10 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:39:10 exim 4.50 daemon started: pid=96238, -q1h, listening for SMTP on port 25 (IPv4)
Jun 12 15:39:10 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:39:10 Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 15:39:10 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 15:40:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:40:00 1DhLCS-000P4y-UL <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 15:40:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:40:00 1DhLCS-000P4y-UL Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 15:40:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 15:41:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:41:01 1DhLDR-000P8b-6k <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 15:41:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 15:41:01 1DhLDR-000P8b-6k Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 15:41:01 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
[root@elatha][/var/log/exim]$ date
Sun Jun 12 15:41:13 EST 2005
[root@elatha][/var/log/exim]$

hows that?
 
You seem to have a problem with access permissions. Do the following:

# whoami
# cd /var/log
# ls -l exim
# cd exim
# ls -l
# ps -aux | grep exim

and post the output here.

Regards,
Onno Vrijburg
 
[root@elatha][/var/log]$ cat messages
Jun 12 16:58:09 elatha inetd[1253]: imap4/tcp: bind: Address already in use
Jun 12 16:59:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 16:59:00 1DhMQu-0000Il-LN <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 16:59:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 16:59:00 1DhMQu-0000Il-LN Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 16:59:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Lf-De <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Lf-De Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Kp-8D <= [email protected] U=operator P=local S=598 T="Cron <operator@elatha> /usr/libexec/save-entropy" from <[email protected]> for operator
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Kp-8D Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
[root@elatha][/var/log]$ date
Sun Jun 12 17:00:50 EST 2005


heres the print out for you....


-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:32]-[~]
-[mail@elatha]$ whoami
mail
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:56]-[~]
-[mail@elatha]$ cd /var/log
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:56]-[/var/log]
-[mail@elatha]$ ls -l exim
total 34
-rw------- 1 mail mail 32893 Jun 12 17:03 exim_mainlog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_paniclog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_rejectlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 12 Jun 12 14:24 mainlog -> exim_mainlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 13 Jun 12 14:25 paniclog -> exim_paniclog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 14 Jun 12 14:25 rejectlog -> exim_rejectlog
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:56]-[/var/log]
-[mail@elatha]$ cd exim
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:56]-[~]
-[mail@elatha]$ ls -l
total 34
-rw------- 1 mail mail 32893 Jun 12 17:03 exim_mainlog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_paniclog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_rejectlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 12 Jun 12 14:24 mainlog -> exim_mainlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 13 Jun 12 14:25 paniclog -> exim_paniclog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 14 Jun 12 14:25 rejectlog -> exim_rejectlog
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:56]-[~]
-[mail@elatha]$ ps -aux | grep exim
mail 96965 0.0 0.1 2984 932 p6 TN 3:46PM 0:00.01 exim start
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:03:58]-[~]
-[mail@elatha]$


-[mail@elatha]$ tail -20 exim_mainlog
Jun 12 16:59:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 16:59:00 1DhMQu-0000Il-LN <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 16:59:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 16:59:00 1DhMQu-0000Il-LN Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 16:59:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Lf-De <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Lf-De Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Kp-8D <= [email protected] U=operator P=local S=598 T="Cron <operator@elatha> /usr/libexec/save-entropy" from <[email protected]> for operator
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:00:01 1DhMRt-0000Kp-8D Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:00:01 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:01:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:01:00 1DhMSq-0000MP-JE <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 17:01:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:01:00 1DhMSq-0000MP-JE Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:01:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:02:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:02:00 1DhMTo-0000Mu-Ny <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 17:02:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:02:00 1DhMTo-0000Mu-Ny Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:02:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
Jun 12 17:03:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:03:00 1DhMUm-0000OB-TY <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
Jun 12 17:03:00 elatha exim: 2005-06-12 17:03:00 1DhMUm-0000OB-TY Cannot open main log file "/var/log/exim/mainlog": Permission denied: euid=12 egid=6
Jun 12 17:03:00 elatha exim: exim: could not open panic log - aborting: see message(s) above
2005-06-12 17:04:01 1DhMVl-0000PE-1C <= [email protected] U=mysql P=local S=784 T="Cron <mysql@elatha> /usr/local/libexec/mysqld &" from <[email protected]> for mysql
2005-06-12 17:04:01 1DhMVl-0000PE-1C ==
-[Sun Jun 12]-[05:04:48]-[~]
-[mail@elatha]$ date
Sun Jun 12 17:04:54 EST 2005


lots of scroll :D
 
Last edited:
Do the flowing as root:

# /sbin/service exim stop
# cd /var/log/exim
# chown mail:mail *
# /sbin/service exim start

and check the /var/log/messages again to see if it started.

regards,
Onno Vrijburg
 
for some reaosn there was a mysql bug. in /var/db it was looking for mysql. There was a file calle dmysql there, i rm'e dit and made it a dir and seems to have fixed it. the chown accomplishes nothign as they arelready are owned by mail as i pasted above.

But now, i get

Jun 12 17:48:09 elatha inetd[1253]: imap4/tcp: bind: Address already in use

in my messages. I hashed it out in /etc/inetd.conf and kill -1 inetd, is this ok? but what about when i reboot? it wont start up or whan it dies wont auto restart. This is a temp solution atm, or can i leave it hashed out.

Since exim is fixed (i think), will this allow me to make email accounts for squieral mail now?
 
I don't know enough about inetd and what it is used for by your system to tell you to comment out configuration options in inetd.conf.

What you can do is create 1 email address on a domainname that resolves to your server and see if mail get's delivered. If this is the case then you can create all the mailboxes you want.

I'll see if I can direct someone with more knowledge on inetd to this thread to see if they can answer your question.

regards,
Onno Vrijburg
 
well exim seems to be ok now.

But now i added an email through USER -> EMAIL - > CREATE POP3, and then clicked on squirelmail login, typed user + pass in, didnt work, tried [email protected] + pass, still didnt work.
I get the error:

ERROR:
ERROR : Connection dropped by imap-server.

Is this a exim error? courier error? imap error? whats the go from here?

Or am i adding emails from wrong place?

I actually made a FORWARDED EMAIL address (alias) which worked when i send an email to the made email, it went to the forwarded email address, so that worked. I just cant log into webmail now
 
I believe that imap might not be running, have you tried uncommenting the imap line from inetd.conf and rebooting your server?

regards,
Onno Vrijburg
 
no and no...

as a normal unix admin, i try keep my reboots to a minimal. So unless that will fix problem 100% im willing to work around it to find another solution. Reboots = last resort.

[root@elatha][/tmp]$ ps aux |grep imap
root 1062 0.0 0.1 1348 760 con- IN Fri07AM 0:00.00 /usr/local/libexec/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogg
root 1066 0.0 0.1 1288 624 con- IN Fri07AM 0:00.00 /usr/local/sbin/courierlogger imapd-ssl
root 1086 0.0 0.1 1348 780 con- IN Fri07AM 0:00.01 /usr/local/libexec/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogg
root 1090 0.0 0.1 1292 672 con- IN Fri07AM 0:00.00 /usr/local/sbin/courierlogger imapd
root 1111 0.0 0.1 1348 760 con- IN Fri07AM 0:00.00 /usr/local/libexec/courier-imap/couriertcpd -address=0 -stderrlogg
[root@elatha][/tmp]$


i uncommented the line in inetd.conf, and kill -1 PID, and messages shows:

Jun 12 19:39:28 elatha inetd[1253]: imap4/tcp: bind: Address already in use

already...
 
Let's try to start at the beginning...

I doubt your exim started running by itself, so I'm betting you did some things you didn't tell us.

First thing I want to point out is you get a very specific error message from Exim... while running as UID 12, GID 6, it couldn't read your log files.

Can you send us the output of:

$ grep :12: passwd

and

$ grep :6: group

so we can see why you're not able to read and write the logfiles, which is necessary if exim is to run.
nothing shows in /var/log/exim and all is chmod 755 and 644.

-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:21 exim_mainlog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_paniclog
-rw------- 1 mail mail 0 Jun 12 14:24 exim_rejectlog
Click to expand...
Certainly -rw------- is NOT the same as 644, though you implied in your response that you were running the logs 644. You're obviously not.
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 12 Jun 12 14:24 mainlog@ -> exim_mainlog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 13 Jun 12 14:25 paniclog@ -> exim_paniclog
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root mail 14 Jun 12 14:25 rejectlog@ -> exim_rejectlog
Click to expand...
I don't know why you've got files with different names and then symbolic links to the names exim expects, but symbolic links should always be as liberal as possible so as to pass on all rights to the actual file, so the actual file limits will be enforced. Or in other words, links should be lrwxrwxrwx. And they should be owned by root.

What OS are you using?

Is imap running as a deamon? In other words, when you run:

$ ps waux | grep imax

what do you get?

If imap is running as a daemon, then you should comment it out of your inetd.conf file.

If you change your inetd.conf file you must restart the daemon, as otherwise it won't read the .conf file.

For most of us IMAP is probably running through inetd, and not as a daemon.

If imapd runs as a daemon, then it must be somewhere in your startup scripts so it'll start when your server is booted.

In any event, if imapd runs as a daemon it should only attempt to bind to it's port once, and that should not fail. If you run it from inetd, it should run multiple times and be able to bind multiple times to the same port.

Jeff
 
almost workin. Now email issues imap ?

Ok after 24 hours of hacking 50 files and setup configs, we have finally got exim up and workin fine and not botheing messages.

on the above post i only did chmod 600* on those files for the monment as i was 'expetrimenting' to fix things. Either way all good.

But now, when i add a user via EMAIL -> create new pop3 account, then i use squieral mail to log in, i get a imap error.

Error connecting to IMAP server: localhost.
60 : Operation timed out


------------------
and mainlog still goes sick...


2005-06-13 09:21:36 1DhbeB-000L0b-PA SMTP data timeout (message abandoned) on connection from chello084112007148.21.11.vie.surfer.at [84.112.7.148]
2005-06-13 09:22:00 1DhbmC-000LAN-73 <= [email protected] U=operator P=local S=598 T="Cron <operator@elatha> /usr/libexec/save-entropy" from <[email protected]> for operator
2005-06-13 09:22:00 1DhbmC-000LAN-73 User 0 set for local_delivery transport is on the never_users list
2005-06-13 09:22:00 1DhbmC-000LAN-73 == [email protected] <[email protected]> R=localuser T=local_delivery defer (-29): User 0 set for local_delivery transport is on the never_users list




any ideas?
 
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