Exim/SendMail failure to load at startup

[Bill Eccles]

Joel et al,

I can’t figure out why StartupManager is reporting this error with every startup:

Jan  4 09:37:04 Centipede SystemStarter: Some startup items failed to launch due to conflicts: <CFArray 0xc740 [0xa01303fc]>{type = mutable-small, count = 1, values = ( 	0 : <CFDictionary 0x15320 [0xa01303fc]>{type = mutable, count = 7, capacity = 11, pairs = ( 	4 : <CFString 0x17400 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "Provides"} = <CFArray 0x17270 [0xa01303fc]>{type = mutable-small, count = 1, values = ( 	0 : <CFString 0x17290 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "SMTP"} )} 	6 : <CFString 0x850c [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "PathToBundle"} = <CFString 0x17520 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "/System/Library/StartupItems/Sendmail"} 	8 : <CFString 0x172d0 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "Requires"} = <CFArray 0x172f0 [0xa01303fc]>{type = mutable-small, count = 1, values = ( 	0 : <CFString 0x17310 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "DirectoryServices"} )} 	10 : <CFString 0x17240 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "OrderPreference"} = <CFString 0x17b20 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "None"} 	13 : <CFString 0x17350 [0xa01303fc]>{contents = "Uses"} = <CFArray 0x17370 [0xa01303fc]>{typ
Jan  4 09:37:04 Centipede SystemStarter: Startup complete. 

I figure it’s a conflict between SendMail, something else, and/or Exim. So here are the StartupItems.plists for each:

[Centipede:Library/StartupItems/Sendmail] admin% more StartupParameters.plist 
{
  Description     = "Sendmail mail server";
  Provides        = ("SMTP");
  Requires        = ("DirectoryServices");
  Uses            = ("Disks", "Network Time", "NFS");
  OrderPreference = "None";
}

[Centipede:/Library/StartupItems/Exim] admin% more StartupParameters.plist
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
        <key>Description</key>
        <string>Exim mail server</string>
        <key>OrderPreference</key>
        <string>None</string>
        <key>Provides</key>
        <array>
                <string>SMTP</string>
        </array>
        <key>Requires</key>
        <array>
                <string>DirectoryServices</string>
        </array>
        <key>Uses</key>
        <array>
                <string>Disks</string>
        </array>
</dict>
</plist>

(You should know this one pretty well, Joel!)

I amusing Apple SMTP Mail Service on port 627 and it is instructed to “Start mail server at system startup” (according to Server Settings anyway).

Here’s what’s actually running when it’s all said and done:

[Centipede:/Library/StartupItems/Exim] admin% ps -aux
USER     PID %CPU %MEM      VSZ    RSS  TT  STAT STARTED      TIME COMMAND
root     296   6.0  3.0    23720   8816  ??  Rs    9:36AM   1:07.69 lookupd
root     496   3.0  0.7    62740   1932  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.25 AppleFileServer
admin    464   1.0  0.1    17152    412  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.11 /usr/sbin/sshd
root     569   0.4  0.2    34916    652  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.64 /usr/sbin/webperfcache
root      70   0.0  0.0     1316    104  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.00 dynamic_pager -H 40000000 -L 160000000 -S 80000000 -F /private/v
root      98   0.0  0.6    16140   1640  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:01.79 configd
root     132   0.0  0.3    15240    800  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.13 /System/Library/CoreServices/SecurityServer -X
admin    170   0.0  0.6    37316   1828  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.68 /System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Version
admin    196   0.0  2.2    25256   6596  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:03.16 /System/Library/CoreServices/WindowServer -daemon
root     220   0.0  0.1     1308    164  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.07 syslogd
root     242   0.0  0.1    17548    416  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.99 /sbin/autodiskmount -va
root     255   0.0  0.0    13584    136  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.01 /usr/libexec/crashreporterd
root     259   0.0  0.3    14392    832  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.10 /usr/sbin/mDNSResponder    
daemon   261   0.0  0.0     1324    132  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.01 portmap
root     288   0.0  0.1     1312    156  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.01 nibindd
root     289   0.0  0.2     1700    548  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:02.01 netinfod local (master) 
root     290   0.0  0.1     2216    436  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.04 netinfod network (clone)  
root     331   0.0  0.1    14268    212  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.06 /usr/sbin/watchdog
root     332   0.0  0.2    15136    692  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.18 sambadmind -d
root     333   0.0  0.4    14344   1144  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.81 PrintServiceMonitor -x
root     340   0.0  1.6    28012   4600  ??  S     9:36AM   0:08.05 serversettingsd -x
root     341   0.0  6.3    39900  18568  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.89 MailService -n
root     342   0.0  1.2    20024   3532  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:01.35 /System/Library/CoreServices/coreservicesd -preload AEServer
root     344   0.0  0.4    15364   1200  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.15 MacintoshManagementServer -x
root     345   0.0  0.5     2824   1524  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.32 named -f
root     353   0.0  0.0     1296     84  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
root     354   0.0  0.0     1296     84  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
root     355   0.0  0.0     1296     84  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
root     356   0.0  0.0     1296     84  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.00 nfsiod -n 4
root     360   0.0  0.1     1872    164  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.41 /usr/sbin/sshd
root     373   0.0  0.2    15008    596  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.09 /usr/sbin/automount -f -m /Network/Servers -fstab -m /automount 
root     376   0.0  1.2    23512   3444  ??  S     9:36AM   0:02.83 DirectoryService
root     386   0.0  0.3    17152   1000  ??  S     9:36AM   0:01.13 /usr/sbin/sshd
exim     399   0.0  0.1     2104    216  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.07 /usr/exim/bin/exim -bd -q1m
admin    402   0.0  1.4    36244   4012  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:01.35 /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/MacOS/logi
root     411   0.0  0.0    14684    120  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.00 /usr/sbin/QuickTimeStreamingServer
root     412   0.0  0.4    16872   1104  ??  S     9:36AM   0:00.47 /usr/sbin/QuickTimeStreamingServer
root     413   0.0  0.2     3764    472  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.03 perl /usr/sbin/streamingadminserver.pl
root     415   0.0  0.1     1556    308  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.12 ntpd -f /var/run/ntp.drift -p /var/run/ntpd.pid
root     428   0.0  0.0     1308    116  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.00 inetd
root     430   0.0  0.1     1768    344  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.03 xinetd -pidfile /var/run/xinetd.pid
root     431   0.0  0.2     3032    580  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:02.18 /usr/sbin/cupsd
root     436   0.0  0.1    13868    164  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.01 cron
root     442   0.0  0.1    20112    424  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.01 slapd
root     452   0.0  3.4    12960  10156  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:02.08 /usr/bin/spamd -d -a -F0                                        
admin    458   0.0  0.4    14468   1196  ??  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.74 /System/Library/CoreServices/pbs       
admin    461   0.0  1.3    32492   3796  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.78 /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/MacOS/Dock -psn_0
root     462   0.0  0.4    15504   1076  ??  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.35 /usr/sbin/servermgrd -DSSL
admin    465   0.0  0.3     5872    832 std  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.20 -tcsh (tcsh)
root     471   0.0  0.2    18192    600  ??  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.28 slpd -f /etc/slpsa.conf
root     475   0.0  0.1    15456    236  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.06 /usr/sbin/servermgrd -DSSL
root     476   0.0  0.3    15776   1024  ??  S     9:37AM   0:02.83 /usr/sbin/servermgrd -DSSL
admin    484   0.0  1.1    34316   3212  ??  S     9:37AM   0:01.07 /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemUIServer.app/Contents/MacOS/S
admin    486   0.0  1.4    38376   4176  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.69 /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/MacOS/Finder -p
root     495   0.0  0.0    15580     72  ??  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.00 AppleFileServer
root     507   0.0  0.4    15776   1096  ??  S     9:37AM   0:02.68 /usr/sbin/servermgrd -DSSL
root     558   0.0  0.6    15424   1680  ??  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.38 /usr/sbin/httpd
root     560   0.0  0.1     1296    240  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.02 /usr/sbin/rotatelogs /private/var/log/httpd/error_log 2592000
root     561   0.0  0.1     1296    240  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.03 /usr/sbin/rotatelogs /private/var/log/httpd/access_log 2592000
root     562   0.0  0.1     1296    244  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.02 /usr/sbin/rotatelogs /private/var/log/httpd/access_log 2592000
www      563   0.0  0.4    15424   1036  ??  S     9:37AM   0:00.26 /usr/sbin/httpd
root     568   0.0  0.0     1376     88  ??  Ss    9:37AM   0:00.00 /usr/sbin/webperfcache
www      754   0.0  0.3    15424   1028  ??  S     9:42AM   0:00.11 /usr/sbin/httpd
root    1162   0.0  0.1     1372    320 std  R+    9:56AM   0:00.01 ps -aux
root       1   0.0  0.1     1308    276  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.03 /sbin/init     
root       2   0.0  0.1     1844    168  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.18 /sbin/mach_init        
root      51   0.0  0.3    15400    764  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:02.19 kextd
root      66   0.0  0.0     1292    104  ??  Ss    9:36AM   0:00.15 update

So it’s pretty obvious that Sendmail never starts–it’s not in that list up there, at any rate. And all of the mail services work. And, curiously enough, there’s a line in /etc/hostconfig that explicitly says “MAILSERVER=-NO-“. (It’s almost as if that file’s being somewhat ignored. I’ve never been able to control Exim’s startup-or-not using that file. I’ve always had to comment out the conditional lines in the startup script for Exim.)

I suppose there’s one potential “obvious” problem, but I don’t know if it really is a problem or not: both Exim and Sendmail claim to provide SMTP services, but since they do it on different ports (25 and 627, respectively–provided I am actually controlling Sendmail settings using Server Settings), it doesn’t seem like that should be a huge issue. Since I don’t know where the MailService is controlled, I can’t see if there’s something funky going on there.

And, by the way, the whole shootin’ match works just great, except that every now and then the MailServer stops… and doesn’t restart.

Any thoughts?

Many thanks,
Bill

[Bill Eccles]

I guess the overall question here is, just why is Sendmail trying to start at all? Where do I gain control over that?

Thanks,
Bill

[Bill Eccles]

Is the “MailService” listed in the ps listing the Apple Mail Service, then?

And how do I make sure that whatever I choose to do here won’t be accidentally overwritten by Server Settings?

Thanks again,
Bill

[Author]

Posts