[SOLVED] postfix/postfix-script: fatal: mail system startup failed

OtagoHarbour · 03-12-2020, 06:59 PM

I am using 16.04.4 LTS (Xenial Xerus) as an instance on AWS EC2. I have set up AWS SES (Simple Email Server).

When I run

Code:

sudo postfix start; sudo postfix reload

I get

Code:

postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/./libpostfix-master.so.1
postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/./libpostfix-global.so.1
postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/./sbin/lmtp
postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/./libpostfix-util.so.1
postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/./libpostfix-tls.so.1
postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/./libpostfix-dns.so.1
postfix/postfix-script: warning: group or other writable: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/./lmtp
postfix/postfix-script: starting the Postfix mail system
postfix/postfix-script: fatal: mail system startup failed
postfix/postfix-script: fatal: the Postfix mail system is not running

I tried the solution given here but, while

Code:

sudo apt-get purge sendmail
sudo apt-get install --reinstall postfix
sudo /etc/init.d/postfix restart

ran without error, I still get the same error message.

Code:

dpkg -S `which sendmail`

returns

Code:

postfix: /usr/sbin/sendmail

and

Code:

sudo netstat -pel | grep smtp

returns

Code:

tcp        0      0 localhost:smtp          *:*                     LISTEN      root       16288       1337/sendmail: MTA:

and

Code:

dpkg -S "$(sudo ps ux | grep 2212 | awk '{print $NF}')"

returns

Code:

dpkg-query: no path found matching pattern

berndbausch · 03-13-2020, 01:50 AM

netstat should show that postfix process master listens on port 25. Such as:

Code:

# netstat -lntp | grep 25
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:25            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1712/master

Perhaps you need to kill sendmail (but to be honest, a process with PID 1337 should never be killed).

I don't know what you want to achieve with

Code:

dpkg -S "$(sudo ps ux | grep 2212 | awk '{print $NF}')"

OtagoHarbour · 03-13-2020, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by berndbausch

netstat should show that postfix process master listens on port 25. Such as:

Code:

# netstat -lntp | grep 25
tcp        0      0 127.0.0.1:25            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      1712/master

Perhaps you need to kill sendmail (but to be honest, a process with PID 1337 should never be killed).

I don't know what you want to achieve with

Code:

dpkg -S "$(sudo ps ux | grep 2212 | awk '{print $NF}')"

Thank you for your reply. I rebooted my instance. Now

Code:

sudo netstat -pel | grep smtp

returns

Code:

tcp        0      0 *:smtp                  *:*                     LISTEN      root       16669       1502/master
tcp6       0      0 [::]:smtp               [::]:*                  LISTEN      root       16670       1502/master
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     16711    1502/master         private/smtp
unix  2      [ ACC ]     STREAM     LISTENING     16753    1502/master         private/bsmtp

Code:

sudo postfix start; sudo postfix reload

returns

Code:

postfix/postfix-script: fatal: the Postfix mail system is already running
postfix/postfix-script: refreshing the Postfix mail system

I've figured it should be

Code:

 dpkg -S "$(sudo ps ux | grep 1502 | awk '{print $NF}')"

which returns

Code:

postfix: /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/master

It would appear the problem has been resolved.

Thanks very much!