newaliases: fatal: file /etc/postfix/main.cf: parameter myhostname: bad parameter value: saturn..

[Steffen Roller]

this report was automagically generated.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 21.04
Package: postfix 3.5.6-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.11.0-22.23-generic 5.11.21
Uname: Linux 5.11.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu65.1
AptOrdering:
 postfix:amd64: Install
 NULL: ConfigurePending
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
Date: Wed Jun 30 13:37:57 2021
ErrorMessage: installed postfix package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 75
EtcMailname: vineta.ca
Hostname: saturn.vineta.ca
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-06-29 (1 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 21.04 "Hirsute Hippo" - Release amd64 (20210420)
PostconfMydomain: localdomain
PostconfMyhostname: saturn
PostconfMyorigin: /etc/mailname
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.9, Python 3.9.5, python3-minimal, 3.9.4-1
PythonDetails: N/A
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.20.9ubuntu1
 apt 2.2.3
SourcePackage: postfix
Title: package postfix 3.5.6-1 failed to install/upgrade: installed postfix package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 75
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Utkarsh Gupta (utkarsh)]

Hello,

Thanks for filing the bug and helping in making Ubuntu Server better!

From your logs, I see:
> newaliases: fatal: file /etc/postfix/main.cf: parameter
> myhostname: bad parameter value: saturn..

You need to set a valid hostname. This isn't really a package bug (this behavior is
by design), but a local configuration issue, I believe.

However, I tried to reproduce the bug as you mentioned but wasn't able to. In a Hirsute (21.04) VM, I installed postfix, configured it as you mentioned, did upgrade, and finally upgrade to Impish (the devel release) but both the upgrade went fix. I used hostname=xdesk and whilst I can confirm that it did add two dots but as I mentioned, the upgrade went OK.

$ grep myhostname /etc/postfix/main.cf
[...]
myhostname = xdesk..
[...]

Although your log shows that this is what caused the problem, I'd like to ask if you can help me layout a reproducer (that is, steps to reproduce this bug) so that we can help fix this?

Also, since we are in sync with the version of postfix in Debian (that is, 3.5.6-1)[1], can you please forward this bug report to Debian? Scott is an active maintainer and once this is fixed there, the fix will land here in Impish (the next release) and we can further backport (SRU) this fix to older releases, depending upon the patch and its details, et al. Thanks!

[1]: https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/postfix

[Steffen Roller (steffen.roller)]

Thank you for getting back on this.

What does "valid hostname" mean in this context?
My server is called "saturn" internally. I do run a Pi-hole in my local network and all my *ix machines have the same /etc/hosts file.

I didn't upgrade. I had a harddisk failure and was installing 21.04 on a new empty system disk.
I can go back and purge my postfix installation and start over again to see if the problem still occurs.

When you say "forward to Debian" - do you mean creating a ticket for the debian project? Or is there a way to actually "forward" this very ticket?

-st

[Utkarsh Gupta (utkarsh)]

Hi Steffen,

> What does "valid hostname" mean in this context?
> My server is called "saturn" internally. I do run a Pi-hole in
> my local network and all my *ix machines have the same
> /etc/hosts file.

Thanks for getting back. I think "saturn" is an alright name and the actual problem is LP: #1929786, where two dots are added and then the hostname becomes invalid. So this indeed seems like a problem, but too bad I couldn't reproduce this :/

> I can go back and purge my postfix installation and start over
> again to see if the problem still occurs.

Yes, please. In case you can do this, that'd certainly help. Let me know if you hit the same bug again!

> When you say "forward to Debian" - do you mean creating a ticket
> for the debian project? Or is there a way to actually "forward"
> this very ticket?

Oh no, I meant opening a bug for Debian. No problem, I did it for you :)
This is reported in Debian as https://bugs.debian.org/990752.

Thank you!

[Paride Legovini (paride)]

Marking as duplicate of LP: #1906970.