Re: [Fetchmail-users] systemd start error

[Joe Acquisto-j. <jo...@j4...>]

>>>
> Am 03.02.20 um 02:00 schrieb Joe Acquisto-j4:
>> Migrated to a new platform,  installed the provided package, fetchmail 
> 6.3.26 just to ease my pain.
>>
>> All works fine loading fetchmail manually but I cannot get fetchmail to 
> start on boot.   Just starting familiarization with systemd.
>>
>> This is what I get from systemctl status fetchmail:
>>
>> Feb 02 19:48:53 localhost systemd[1]: Started A remote-mail retrieval 
> utility.
>> Feb 02 19:48:53 localhost fetchmail-systemd-exec[13677]: $FETCHMAIL_RC_PATH 
> does not exist or cannot be read
>>
>> I moved /root/.fetchmailrc to /etc/fetchmail, where it seemed to be expected 
> to be.  Still objected.  Changed file permissions and was told it could only 
> be 700.  Set it back, same result.
>>
>> What could be the issue?  Ownership?
> 
> Joe,
> 
> I am sorry to write that this has just taken you further away from a
> solution because you brought unknown third-party launcher scripts to the
> table. Answering those questions you pose would amount to guesswork or
> massive remote debugging, and we can't help you on this list with a
> third-party package.
> 
> Reason, the systemd stuff that your outdated package has provided you
> with is not part of fetchmail, but has been provided by your package
> provider, whoever that is, you don't reveal it, so even users of that
> system wouldn't necessarily recognize it. I know nothing about it and
> will not support it. FETCHMAIL_RC_PATH is not from fetchmail either but
> also that third party systemd whatever.
> 
> Finally, "localhost" isn't a proper fully-qualified domain name, so the
> system isn't correctly set up, and I've just last week-end explained
> that to another user here:
> <https://gitlab.com/fetchmail/fetchmail/issues/12>, and in particular,
> <https://gitlab.com/fetchmail/fetchmail/issues/12#note_280354348> and
> <https://gitlab.com/fetchmail/fetchmail/issues/12#note_280567189>.
> 
> Setting up mail systems requires a careful, patient and iterative
> approach and not hasty reactions. Sorry again.
> 
> Cheers,
> Matthias
> 

Thanks for your reply and pointers.

The solution to the immediate problem had to do with ownership of the file
name provided by the variable ($FETCHMAIL_RC_PATH), which in this case 
was "/etc/fetchmailrc".  When ownership was changed to "fetchmail", the 
systemd startup magic was satisfied and fetchmail started upon system startup.

Sorry I did not specify that the new OS is of current vintage and provided nearly 
up to date versions of fetchmail (6.3.26), Postfix and Spamassassin.

I chose to use the OS packaged versions for ease of setup and will certainly 
update to the latest versions rather soon.   

Yes, there were some incomplete items, such as /etc/hosts entries while 
setting up and testing one bit at a time.   

The old system was in place and operational until the newer one was well
tested.

It all actually progressed much more smoothly than I had thought likely 
and has been working well for several days.

Thank you for a solid product.

joe a.