qmail scanner insanity... someone please help

Hello all,

Earlier today, I discovered that clamd was complaining about
permissions in my logs 
(clamdscan: corrupt or unknown clamd scanner error or
memory/resource/perms problem). I 
have spent hours and hours trying to get this horrid piece
of software to not stomp on my 
email (why in the world someone would think that it's a
good idea for a misconfigured 
virus scanner to not allow any email through is beyond me).

I tried the instructions posted here:

http://qmail.j
ms1.net/clamav-qms.shtml

and here:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Setup_QMAIL_RELAY-CTRL_
VPOPMAIL

Nothing worked... I went from the above error to the ever
annoying "cannot open 
/var/spool/qscan/qmail-scanner-queue-version.txt - did you
initialise the system by 
running "qmail-scanner-queue.pl -z"? -
Permission denied" Annoying because I have run 
"qmail-scanner-queue.pl -z" several times and it
has no effect.

I think I used to just run clamd as root to avoid all this,
but that didn't appear to 
help. Currently, I've gone over and over all the files
involved and everything's owned by 
qscand and that's what clamd and freshclam are set to run
as.

Based on the comments in that first link above about version
2.* of qmail-scanner, I went 
ahead and unmasked that and emerged it. But that seems to
have made things even worse, 
since now the error messages are all about missing files in
/var/spool/qscan... which 
didn't even exist! I've been creating the files in that
dir as they show up in error 
messages in the logs, but now it's looking for
/quarantine-events.db which I think is 
supposed to be a BDB file... and I have no idea how to
create that.

If anyone have any experience getting the evil qmail-scanner
beast under control, I really 
really appreciate any guidance. I've had more trouble with
this one package than anything 
else on gentoo. It's positively evil.

In the meantime, I'm flying totally unscanned... fire-hose
of spam, phishing email, 
viruses, etc.

thanks,

Ben
-- 
gentoo-servergentoo.org mailing list

I apologize for my shrill tone here... It's just under 100
degrees F. in my living room, 
I'm hours behind on the work I'm supposed to be doing
today, and it seems unfair that 
qmail-scanner lost its mind without my doing any updates.

Anyway, I hesitate to even say this, lest I curse myself,
but I think I managed to stumble 
across the correct sequence of magic incantations to get
clamd and/or qmail-scanner to 
quit puking... At least I haven't seen any errors in the
logs in the last few minutes... 
just the usual torrent of spam scan messages.

Still, I would love to understand this all better... if
anyone has any sage 
qmail/spamassassin/clamav/vpopmail survival advice they'd
like to share, I'd love to hear it!

b

Ben Munat wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> Earlier today, I discovered that clamd was complaining
about permissions 
> in my logs (clamdscan: corrupt or unknown clamd scanner
error or 
> memory/resource/perms problem). I have spent hours and
hours trying to 
> get this horrid piece of software to not stomp on my
email (why in the 
> world someone would think that it's a good idea for a
misconfigured 
> virus scanner to not allow any email through is beyond
me).
> 
> I tried the instructions posted here:
> 
> http://qmail.j
ms1.net/clamav-qms.shtml
> 
> and here:
> 
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Setup_QMAIL_RELAY-CTRL_
VPOPMAIL
> 
> Nothing worked... I went from the above error to the
ever annoying 
> "cannot open
/var/spool/qscan/qmail-scanner-queue-version.txt - did you 
> initialise the system by running
"qmail-scanner-queue.pl -z"? - 
> Permission denied" Annoying because I have run
"qmail-scanner-queue.pl 
> -z" several times and it has no effect.
> 
> I think I used to just run clamd as root to avoid all
this, but that 
> didn't appear to help. Currently, I've gone over and
over all the files 
> involved and everything's owned by qscand and that's
what clamd and 
> freshclam are set to run as.
> 
> Based on the comments in that first link above about
version 2.* of 
> qmail-scanner, I went ahead and unmasked that and
emerged it. But that 
> seems to have made things even worse, since now the
error messages are 
> all about missing files in /var/spool/qscan... which
didn't even exist! 
> I've been creating the files in that dir as they show
up in error 
> messages in the logs, but now it's looking for
/quarantine-events.db 
> which I think is supposed to be a BDB file... and I
have no idea how to 
> create that.
> 
> If anyone have any experience getting the evil
qmail-scanner beast under 
> control, I really really appreciate any guidance. I've
had more trouble 
> with this one package than anything else on gentoo.
It's positively evil.
> 
> In the meantime, I'm flying totally unscanned...
fire-hose of spam, 
> phishing email, viruses, etc.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Ben
-- 
gentoo-servergentoo.org mailing list

Ben Munat wrote:
> I apologize for my shrill tone here... It's just under
100 degrees F. in 
> my living room, I'm hours behind on the work I'm
supposed to be doing 
> today, and it seems unfair that qmail-scanner lost its
mind without my 
> doing any updates.
> 
> Anyway, I hesitate to even say this, lest I curse
myself, but I think I 
> managed to stumble across the correct sequence of magic
incantations to 
> get clamd and/or qmail-scanner to quit puking... At
least I haven't seen 
> any errors in the logs in the last few minutes... just
the usual torrent 
> of spam scan messages.
> 
> Still, I would love to understand this all better... if
anyone has any 
> sage qmail/spamassassin/clamav/vpopmail survival advice
they'd like to 
> share, I'd love to hear it!

What you have just experienced is the very reason I quit
using qmail almost 2 
years ago. I went through the same thing more than once
after what seemed to be 
very innocuous updates (and also whenever it felt like it).
I am now a very 
happy postfix user.

-- 
Andrew Gaffney                            http://dev.gentoo.or
g/~agaffney/
Gentoo Linux Developer                                  
Installer Project
-- 
gentoo-servergentoo.org mailing list

Hi Ben,

Ben Munat <bentmunat.com> said:
>
> Still, I would love to understand this all better... if
anyone has any
> sage qmail/spamassassin/clamav/vpopmail survival advice
they'd like to
> share, I'd love to hear it!
>
> b

I use a mailfront/vmailmgr/qmail combo and recently I added
clamav and 
spamassassin using qmail-qfilter to the mix.

while i find it easy to add filters using qmail-qfilter i
had lots of 
problems with clamav and spamassassin - these two work in an
unfamiliar 
way. but i guess one always gets that feeling when covering
new ground.

i used qmail-scanner some years ago and have had i blow up
on me a couple 
of times - i am not going to use it again.

regards
Thilo

Thilo Bangert wrote:
> Hi Ben,
> 
> Ben Munat <bentmunat.com> said:
> 
>>Still, I would love to understand this all better...
if anyone has any
>>sage qmail/spamassassin/clamav/vpopmail survival
advice they'd like to
>>share, I'd love to hear it!
>>
>>b
> 
> 
> I use a mailfront/vmailmgr/qmail combo and recently I
added clamav and 
> spamassassin using qmail-qfilter to the mix.
> 
> while i find it easy to add filters using qmail-qfilter
i had lots of 
> problems with clamav and spamassassin - these two work
in an unfamiliar 
> way. but i guess one always gets that feeling when
covering new ground.
> 
> i used qmail-scanner some years ago and have had i blow
up on me a couple 
> of times - i am not going to use it again.
> 
> regards
> Thilo

Thanks! It's nice to hear that I'm not alone in having
problems... makes me feel a little 
less like an idiot... but just a little! 

b
-- 
gentoo-servergentoo.org mailing list