Amavis - can't start service

English Network/Internet
1

On a fresh installation I’m trying to set-up a mail server.
I’ve some services working (Fetchmail, Postfix, Dovet) but when I try to use Amavis it will not start.
Even without touching /etc/amavis.conf the service amavis ended with errors.
This is what I get from journal :

MAXLEAP160:/usr/lib/perl5/5.42.0/Net # journalctl -xeu amavis

apr 10 21:32:03 MAXLEAP160 amavis[4050]: Starting virus-scanner (amavisd-new):
apr 10 21:32:03 MAXLEAP160 amavis[4052]: Insecure directory in $ENV{PATH} while running with -T switch at /usr/lib/perl5/5.42.0/Net/Domain.pm line 173.
apr 10 21:32:03 MAXLEAP160 amavis[4052]: BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.42.0/Amavis/Conf.pm line 1038.
apr 10 21:32:03 MAXLEAP160 amavis[4052]: Compilation failed in require at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.42.0/Amavis.pm line 27.
apr 10 21:32:03 MAXLEAP160 amavis[4052]: BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/lib/perl5/vendor_perl/5.42.0/Amavis.pm line 27.
apr 10 21:32:03 MAXLEAP160 systemd[1]: amavis.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE

It seems that something is wrong with perl/amavis but really I don’t know what could be.

2

Insecure directory in $ENV{PATH}

You have a directory with too broad permissions set. No I don’t know what it is, it’ll be in the configuration file.

3

Maybe … but this is the content of $PATH :

MAXLEAP160:/var/log/clamav # echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin

MAXLEAP160:/usr/lib/systemd/system # perl -e 'print join("\n", split(/:/,$ENV{PATH})), "\n"'
/usr/local/sbin
/usr/local/bin
/sbin
/bin
/usr/sbin
/usr/bin

and this is what I have (not touched) in /etc/amavis.conf :


$MYHOME = '/var/spool/amavis';
$TEMPBASE = "$MYHOME/tmp";   # working directory, needs to exist, -T
$ENV{TMPDIR} = $TEMPBASE;    # environment variable TMPDIR, used by SA, etc.

Directories exist according to this output :

MAXLEAP160:/usr/lib/systemd/system # ls -l /var/spool/amavis
totale 16
drwxr-x---. 2 vscan vscan 4096 12 ago  2023 db
drwxr-x---. 2 vscan vscan 4096 12 ago  2023 tmp
drwxr-x---. 2 vscan vscan 4096 12 ago  2023 var
drwxr-x---. 2 vscan vscan 4096 12 ago  2023 virusmails
4

/sbin and /bin are probably links to /usr/sbin and /usr/bin respectively. They have permissions of 777.

Set the path for amavisd and remove /bin and /sbin and see if that does it.

You should start by reading the documentation. The default provided config file is probably completely useless.

5

I’ve tried to set PATH variable but with no result.

Added this line to /usr/lib/systemd/system/amavis.service :
Environment="PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin"

Added this line to /etc/amavisd.conf :
$ENV{PATH} = "/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin";

In both cases I get the same error.

In amavis documentation I really didn’t find any point speaking of PATH.

I’ve a working mail server with openSUSE 15.4 and I’m testing the same in a VM with Leap16.0 before making a migration.
The amavis version provided with Leap16.0 was compiled on 08/2023 so
IMHO the issue could derive from an up-to-date version of perl.

6

On a new Leap 16.0 installation with SELinux in enforcing mode there is still a problem to start amavis https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1254438 .
But when SELinux is disabled or set to permissive mode it does start on my test vm with unchanged default settings:

systemctl status  amavis.service 
● amavis.service - Amavisd-new Virus Scanner interface
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/amavis.service; enabled; preset: disabled)
     Active: active (running) since Sat 2026-04-11 11:47:11 CEST; 10min ago
 Invocation: 1f774a1fd17444e8ac351c0c5d05603d
   Main PID: 1479 (/usr/sbin/amavi)
     Status: "Starting child process(es), ready for work."
      Tasks: 3 (limit: 4524)
        CPU: 1.478s
     CGroup: /system.slice/amavis.service
             ├─1479 "/usr/sbin/amavisd (master)"
             ├─1484 "/usr/sbin/amavisd (virgin child)"
             └─1485 "/usr/sbin/amavisd (virgin child)"
7

Thanks for reply.
I tried SELinux in permissive mode and even disabled but I get the same result.
I really have no other idea …

8

Could you check with

rpm -V amavisd-new
rpm -V perl

that the checksums of amavis and perl5 are ok.

9

I changed approach …
I created a new VM with leap-16 , I installed amavis and didn’t modify any configuration files :

  • with selinux enabled it doesn’t start but the error is different (permission denied on unix sockect) … a new hope arise
  • with selinux disabled it starts … so there is life on amavis :grinning:

Now I’ve to investigate on what services/setting lead to this issue.

10

I’ve found that exists a bug
with a simple workaround …
Solved

11

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