Thanks a lot for taking the time to thoroughly answer my questions!
My problem is that I only see warnings in the log file, no errors.
Even after forcing a value for chroot (tried both 'y' and 'n', see below),
it still complains about compatibility. But from the list of compatibility
issues, that was the only one I could find in my config files. Unless
these settings are in some other files than master.cf and main.cf.
This is the original log I included in my first email:
Oct 9 05:35:00 ...: name_mask: all
Oct 9 05:35:00 ...: inet_addr_local: configured 5 IPv4 addresses
Oct 9 05:35:00 ...: inet_addr_local: configured 2 IPv6 addresses
Oct 9 05:35:00 ...: Postfix is running with backwards-compatible
default settings
Oct 9 05:35:00 ...: See
http://www.postfix.org/COMPATIBILITY_README.html for details
Oct 9 05:35:00 ...: To disable backwards compatibility use "postconf
compatibility_level=2" and "postfix reload"
Oct 9 05:35:04 ...: warning: symlink leaves directory:
/etc/postfix/./makedefs.out
Oct 9 05:35:04 ...: warning:
/var/spool/postfix/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt and
/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt differ
Oct 9 05:35:05 ...: warning:
/var/spool/postfix/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnss_systemd.so.2 and
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnss_systemd.so.2 differ
Oct 9 05:35:05 ...: postfix/postqueue[...]: warning: Mail system is
down -- accessing queue directly
I have set chroot = 'y' for both smtp and smtps in master.cf, started
postfix and got this:
Oct 14 04:42:02 ... postfix[25139]: Postfix is running with
backwards-compatible default settings
Oct 14 04:42:02 ... postfix[25139]: See
http://www.postfix.org/COMPATIBILITY_README.html for details
Oct 14 04:42:02 ... postfix[25139]: To disable backwards compatibility
use "postconf compatibility_level=2" and "postfix reload"
Oct 14 04:42:02 ... postfix/postfix-script[25202]: warning: symlink
leaves directory: /etc/postfix/./makedefs.out
Oct 14 04:42:02 ... postfix/postfix-script[25223]: warning:
/var/spool/postfix/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt and
/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt differ
Oct 14 04:42:03 ... postfix/postfix-script[25236]: warning:
/var/spool/postfix/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnss_systemd.so.2 and
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnss_systemd.so.2 differ
Oct 14 04:42:03 ... postfix/postqueue[25246]: warning: Mail system is
down -- accessing queue directly
I also tried chroot = 'n' for both smtp and smtps in master.cf, started
postfix and got this:
Oct 14 04:47:44 ... postfix[26087]: Postfix is running with
backwards-compatible default settings
Oct 14 04:47:44 ... postfix[26087]: See
http://www.postfix.org/COMPATIBILITY_README.html for details
Oct 14 04:47:44 ... postfix[26087]: To disable backwards compatibility
use "postconf compatibility_level=2" and "postfix reload"
Oct 14 04:47:45 ... postfix/postfix-script[26150]: warning: symlink
leaves directory: /etc/postfix/./makedefs.out
Oct 14 04:47:45 ... postfix/postfix-script[26171]: warning:
/var/spool/postfix/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt and
/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt differ
Oct 14 04:47:45 ... postfix/postfix-script[26184]: warning:
/var/spool/postfix/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnss_systemd.so.2 and
/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libnss_systemd.so.2 differ
Oct 14 04:47:45 ... postfix/postqueue[26194]: warning: Mail system is
down -- accessing queue directly
Perhaps I will try deleting postfix and reinstalling it from scratch. It's
already been a week without mail...
On Tue, Oct 13, 2020 at 4:36 PM Bob Proulx <[email protected]> wrote:
> Paul Lauzon wrote:
> > I have kept Postfix and many other services disabled at power-up since
> last
> > year and it works well for me that way. I did that last year after I got
> > DDOS and spammed tons of mail with virus attachments and my server was so
> > overwhelmed that I could not use it for days and even login with putty
> took
> > several hours trying. By starting my server with only the basic
> services,
> > when the DDOS/spam happens, I can just request a server reboot and I can
> > login easily and start the services after I am done.
>
> Gotcha. It's unusual. But shouldn't be "the problem".
>
> > I did not do these yet:
> > > postconf compatibility_level=2
> > > postfix reload
> >
> > This is what I have in my master.cf file:
> > #
> ==========================================================================
> > # service type private unpriv chroot wakeup maxproc command + args
> > # (yes) (yes) (yes) (never) (100)
> > #
> ==========================================================================
> > smtp inet n - - - - smtpd -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes
>
> Since the chroot field is a "-" that means it will use the default
> value. Postfix documents this here.
>
> http://www.postfix.org/COMPATIBILITY_README.html#chroot
>
> Summary: If it is 0 then it assumes that default is 'y' and if it is
> set to 2 then it assumes it is 'n'. But in case I made a typo there
> ignore me and read the authoritative documentation which I am sure has
> been proofread carefully!
>
> Which means that changing compatibility_level from 0 to 2 will change
> the chroot configuration to stop using it in your case now when you
> were using the chroot by default before.
>
> If you simply want to silence the warning message "using
> backwards-compatible default setting chroot=y" then setting that field
> explicitly to 'y' before doing should keep the exact same
> configuration that you had before making that change but the warning
> would be silenced.
>
> smtp inet n - y - - smtpd -o smtpd_sasl_auth_enable=yes
>
> > So that '-' would be what created the issue perhaps?
>
> It is what created the warning message "using backwards-compatible
> default setting chroot=y". But let me assure you that there are
> zillions of Debian systems out there emitting that warning because no
> one changed anything and things are working okay regardless. It seems
> very unlikely to be related to whatever is "the problem" that you are
> currently experiencing.
>
> > If so, is it better to run postfix using chroot = yes since this is
> > the new default? I would have to find a tutorial on how to
> > reinstall it properly that way I guess. Or I could just put a 'no'
> > there but it would make it less secure? I prefer the most secure
> > option.
>
> I prefer keeping in the middle of the wildebeest herd as it crosses
> the river. The crocodile predators most often take the weak ones from
> the edge first. Debian has for many years been defaulting to the
> chroot configuration. You have apparently been using the chroot
> configuration. Therefore I would continue. I am myself using the
> chroot configuration. I would investigate why the init start of
> postfix did not update the chroot properly. But again I don't think
> that is "the problem" you are currently experiencing.
>
> > For systemd (funny: abandon all hope, ye who enter), I would hope that a
> > 'disabled' service is not considered 'uninstalled' so that when I updated
> > my certificates using "Let's Encrypt" it did not update the Postfix
> > certificates. But any automation is a very good way to screw-up... Just
> > like my update did.
>
> By this I assume you are setting the postfix ssl configuration
> variables smtpd_tls_key_file and smtpd_tls_cert_file to use your Let's
> Encrypt obtained Domain Validation certificates? That's fine. I do
> that too. But note that SMTP STARTTLS as far as I know does not and
> cannot not require certificate validation. It's opportunistic only.
>
> http://www.postfix.org/TLS_README.html
>
> By default Debian configures a self-signed certificate. That's okay
> too. Likely not "the problem" you are currently experiencing. For
> debugging things the best reference is all of the good information here.
>
> http://www.postfix.org/DEBUG_README.html
>
> However let me point you specifically to what I would do. I see by
> what you have shown so far this:
>
> Oct 9 05:35:05 ...: postfix/postqueue[...]: warning: Mail system is
> down -- accessing queue directly
>
> So postfix is not running for some reason. In that case start it.
> Then look in the /var/log/syslog and /var/log/mail.log files for any
> messages logged there. Here is an example of what might be seen there
> from a systemd system here, which should match your systemd machine there.
>
> rwp@madness:~$ sudo systemctl start postfix.service
>
> rwp@madness:~$ sudo tail /var/log/syslog
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent (instance -)...
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness postfix/postfix-script[17085]: warning:
> symlink leaves directory: /etc/postfix/./makedefs.out
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness postfix/postfix-script[17123]: starting the
> Postfix mail system
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness postfix/master[17125]: daemon started --
> version 3.4.14, configuration /etc/postfix
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness systemd[1]: Started Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent (instance -).
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent...
> Oct 13 14:26:30 madness systemd[1]: Started Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent.
>
> It would be expected that if there is a problem that there would be an
> error message logged in that file at that location. I will create an
> error for the example.
>
> Oct 13 14:31:13 madness systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent (instance -)...
> Oct 13 14:31:13 madness configure-instance.sh[17675]: postconf: fatal:
> /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 46: missing '=' after attribute name:
> "errorinconfigurationfilehereplacedbyrwpasanexample"
> Oct 13 14:31:14 madness configure-instance.sh[17675]: postconf: fatal:
> /etc/postfix/main.cf, line 46: missing '=' after attribute name:
> "errorinconfigurationfilehereplacedbyrwpasanexample"
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: [email protected]: Control
> process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: [email protected]: Failed with
> result 'exit-code'.
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: Failed to start Postfix Mail
> Transport Agent (instance -).
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent...
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: Started Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent.
>
> Note that systemctl status shows nothing of use here. We need the
> logfile for that information.
>
> rwp@madness:~$ sudo systemctl status postfix.service
> * postfix.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent
> Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/postfix.service; enabled;
> vendor preset: enabled)
> Active: active (exited) since Tue 2020-10-13 14:31:15 MDT; 1min 29s
> ago
> Process: 17680 ExecStart=/bin/true (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
> Main PID: 17680 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
>
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent...
> Oct 13 14:31:15 madness systemd[1]: Started Postfix Mail Transport
> Agent.
>
> Again this is simply an example that I created to show the type of
> thing that might be seen as an error in the log file.
>
> What's in your log file?
>
> Good luck! :-)
>
> Bob
>
