[vox-tech] mail problems with debian

[R. Douglas Barbieri]

Just a thought. You didn't by any chance just install xinetd? That could
explain why exim won't run if xinetd.conf has it turned off.

On Sat, 16 Nov 2002, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:

> begin msimons@moria.simons-clan.com <msimons@moria.simons-clan.com>
> > On Sat, Nov 16, 2002 at 01:24:01PM -0800, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> > >    p@satan% telnet belial.ucdavis.edu 25
> > >    Trying 169.237.43.86...
> > >    Connected to belial.ucdavis.edu.
> > >    Escape character is '^]'.
> > >    Connection closed by foreign host.
> > >    p@satan%
> > >
> > > so that's why mail stopped working.   next i looked at inetd.conf:
> > >
> > >    smtp       stream tcp nowait    mail /usr/sbin/exim  exim -bs
> >
> > this line is correct.
> >
> >   if you replace the command to run with /bin/false you should see the
> > same telnet behavior as you included above.
> >
> >
> > > i'm no expert at inetd.conf, but this looks good to my untrained eyes.
> > > next i looked at the log files:
> > >
> > >    Nov 16 13:12:58 belial inetd[335]: execv /usr/sbin/exim: Permission denied
> > >    Nov 16 13:13:04 belial inetd[341]: execv /usr/sbin/exim: Permission denied
> > >    Nov 16 13:14:19 belial inetd[371]: execv /usr/sbin/exim: Permission denied
> >
> >   it appears that inetd is unable to run /usr/sbin/exim.  the permission
> > denied message is from execv inside inetd... if you change the inetd.conf line
> > to run /etc/passwd you should get a similar problem.
> >
> > Nov 16 13:51:40 salomon inetd[779]: execv /etc/motd: Permission denied
> >
> > > apparently, exim is trying to do something it doesn't have permission to
> > > do.  like bind to a port.   however:
> >
> >   inetd is the service logging the error.
> >
> > > belial# ll /usr/sbin/exim
> > > -rwsr-xr-x    1 root     root       471144 Sep 20 10:34 /usr/sbin/exim*
> >
> >   The permissions you show above are correct, but the size and timestamp
> > I have locally doesn't match a stable woody exim.  Try doing things like
>
> filesize 471144 and timestamp sept 20 should match a testing exim.  i
> don't actually own a woody system anymore.   :)
>
>
> > salomon:/etc# file /usr/sbin/exim
> >   /usr/sbin/exim: setuid ELF 32-bit LSB executable, Intel 80386, version 1 (SYSV), dynamically linked (uses shared libs), stripped
>
> check
>
> > salomon:/etc# /usr/sbin/exim
> >   exim: neither action flags nor mail addresses given
>
> check
>
> > salomon:/etc# debsums exim | grep -v OK$
> >
> >   ... to make sure the binary there is actually executable.
>
> empty.
>
>
> > > i'm running out of ideas.  help?
> >
> >   it's unlikely but if inetd is running in some sort of jail (which I don't
> > thing debian inetd does out of the box) then it may be running a completely
> > different exim binary from the one your ls shows.
> >
> >   If exim checks out I would recommend starting with a strace on your
> > inetd process...
>
> good idea.  i'll give that a try.  hope i have enough disk space.  ;)
>
> pete
>
>

-- 
R. Douglas Barbieri
doug@dooglio.net
http://www.dooglio.net

"That government is best which governs the least, because its people
   discipline themselves."

-- Thomas Jefferson

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