exim4 init script fails to create pid file

[Christian Rueb]

Binary package hint: exim4-base

Version of exim4-base: 4.60-3ubuntu3

As /var/run is not a persistend directory the subdirectory /var/run/exim4 is missing after the first reboot. When the /etc/init.d/exim4 startup script tries to create the necessary pid files this fails. If you want to stop or restart exim this fails quietly:
-old pidfile is not found
-exim will not be stopped
-new exim starts (and fails to grab the SMTP port) and gives up after a certain time
-old exim keeps on running

Possible Solution:

Add the folling in the runlevel script:
test -d /var/run/exim4 || mkdir -p /var/run/exim4

Cheers,
  Christian

[Martin Emrich (emme)]

Same here, after adding the mkdir line, it works.

Regards,

Martin

[Chris (chfritsch-gmx)]

Same here

probably better solution(?):

# make sure that the pidfile directory exists
PIDDIR=${PIDFILE%/*}
if [ ! -d "$PIDDIR" ]; then
    mkdir "$PIDDIR"
    chmod 0755 "$PIDDIR"
    chown Debian-exim "$PIDDIR"

now the user Debian-exim is the owner of /var/run/exim4. (taken from /etc/init.d/munin)

Cheers,
Chris

[Sam Bashton (sam-bashton)]

Any chance of getting this one fixed?

It's not exactly a complex change to consider - the problem and solution are both extremely obvious.

[Adam Wendt (adam-ipwebdev)]

Confirmed and possible fixes in previous comments.

[Reinhard Tartler (siretart)]

fixed in debian, synced in ubuntu a long time ago...