sendmail install causes infinite loop

[tunist]

i am using my machine here to create php code..
i have all the apps functioning as preferred - except that now when i install sendmail, the process never completes and is caught in an infinite loop of database configuration.

i read the comments of others who experienced the same after the upgrade to pack 7 - yet have not seen any solution yet..

does anyone have any tips?
thanks

[Monsta]

does anyone have any tips?

Tip #1: prefer posting exact error messages instead of strange descriptions like "infinite loop of database configuration" - so we could at least google them or look them up at Debian bug tracker.

[tunist]

good point.. i must have been tired or distracted when i wrote that!

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sudo apt-get install sendmail sendmail-bin

is producing:

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Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
sendmail-bin is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libgsasl7 libmailutils4 libmemcached10 lsb-security mailutils-common
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
Suggested packages:
  sendmail-doc rmail
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  sendmail
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/215 kB of archives.
After this operation, 217 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
WARNING: The following packages cannot be authenticated!
  sendmail
Install these packages without verification [y/N]? y
Selecting previously unselected package sendmail.
(Reading database ... 300610 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking sendmail (from .../sendmail_8.14.4-4_all.deb) ...
Setting up sendmail-bin (8.14.4-4) ...
update-alternatives: warning: forcing reinstallation of alternative /usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail because link group sendmail-msp is broken
update-alternatives: warning: not replacing /usr/share/man/man8/sendmail.8.gz with a link
[ ok ] Stopping Mail Transport Agent (MTA): sendmail.
Updating sendmail environment ...
Reading configuration from /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Validating configuration.
Writing configuration to /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Writing /etc/cron.d/sendmail.
Disabling HOST statistics file(/var/lib/sendmail/host_status).
Reading configuration from /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Validating configuration.
Writing configuration to /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Writing /etc/cron.d/sendmail.
Could not open /etc/mail/databases(No such file or directory), creating it.
Reading configuration from /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Validating configuration.
Creating /etc/mail/databases...

Checking filesystem, this may take some time - it will not hang!
  ...   Done.
 
Checking for installed MDAs...
sasl2-bin not installed, not configuring sendmail support.

To enable sendmail SASL2 support at a later date, invoke "/usr/share/sendmail/update_auth"

 
Creating/Updating SSL(for TLS) information
Creating /etc/mail/tls/starttls.m4...
You already have sendmail certificates
 

*** *** *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** WARNING *** *** ***

Everything you need to support STARTTLS (encrypted mail transmission
and user authentication via certificates) is installed and configured
but is *NOT* being used.

To enable sendmail to use STARTTLS, you need to:
1) Add this line to /etc/mail/sendmail.mc and optionally
   to /etc/mail/submit.mc:
  include(`/etc/mail/tls/starttls.m4')dnl
2) Run sendmailconfig
3) Restart sendmail

Checking {sendmail,submit}.mc and related databases...
Reading configuration from /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Validating configuration.
Creating /etc/mail/databases...
Reading configuration from /etc/mail/sendmail.conf.
Validating configuration.
Creating /etc/mail/databases...

and from there the creating/reading/validating sequence repeats infinitely.

[Monsta]

It looks like [url=http://bugs.debian.org/717951]this bug[/url]. The comments say it's been fixed in version 8.14.4-4.1, you can get it from Testing.

[tunist]

ah ok, thanks for the tip.

currently i am unable to even load the package manager since when i do i am informed that i need to run:

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dpkg --configure -a

when i run that code i begin the process which creates the infinite looping again.
i have already run apt-get purge and clean with no success..

are you saying that if i launch an install process from the testing repo that this situation will resolve completely?
i ran

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sudo apt-get --help

and do not see the code for installing from a specific repo..
i remember seeing something like '--install-with testing' or similar in one flavour of gnu/linux; so far i am unclear on the correct syntax for use with lmde..

any tips welcomed.. thanks again

[Monsta]

Uninstall sendmail and sendmail-bin to get rid of the error, then add Testing repo to your sources list and install sendmail again.

[tunist]

so far i am unable to uninstall these packages using synaptic, software manager or apt-get in the terminal..
either nothing occurs or the same infinite loop is triggered..

i am out of ideas..

[Monsta]

Looks like you'll have to use the low-level tool, dpkg.

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sudo dpkg -r sendmail-bin

Then add Testing to your sources list and run

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sudo apt-get install -f

to fix the broken dependency. This command should automatically retrieve the newer version of sendmail-bin (8.14.4-4.1) and install it.

[tunist]

using those commands has cleared something somewhere... as i can now load package manager..
however, the sendmail-bin file remains 'marked for installation' and i am unable to cancel it.
the version number to be installed is 8.14.4-4, so is not the 'testing' one that was quoted in the thread above..

i already have these repos activated in the sources.list:
http://debian.linuxmint.com/latest/security testing/updates main contrib non-free
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debi ... ian/latest testing main contrib non-free
http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/debi ... t/security testing/updates main contrib non-free

i don't really know which repo does what.. perhaps i need to set priorities to access the correct version of sendmail?
(at this point i am happy to just remove sendmail completely and look to use postfix instead - though i am unclear on how to fully cancel the sendmail install).

[Monsta]

First, your sources list contains errors. Security mirror is listed twice, multimedia is not listed at all, and packages.linuxmint.com is absent too. That's not good. The correct list should look like this.

Second, to get access to Debian Testing repo, add

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deb http://http.debian.net/debian testing main contrib non-free

to the sources list, then run

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sudo apt-get update

[tunist]

aha! well, that upped the version of sendmail to 8.14.4-4.1.
however, the infinite loop occurred anyway on installation...

[Monsta]

Oh. Let's try removing all sendmail-related packages first (completely, including configuration files):

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sudo apt-get remove --purge sendmail sendmail-base sendmail-bin sendmail-cf sensible-mda

(If it doesn't get out of the loop, use the dpkg trick again.)

[tunist]

ah, i discovered why i was having issues with the locks - i was pressing ctrl-z to end the loop instead of ctrl-c:

control+z doesn't cancel the command, it pauses it. You need the process to close in order to start a new install. Bring it back to the foreground using the fg command, then stop it using control+c.

i have now removed and correctly installed sendmail - thanks a lot for your assistance here.
now i just need to uncover why i am unable to send mails with sendmail.

[Monsta]

Don't forget to remove Debian Testing repo from your sources list, or you may end up upgrading LMDE to Testing

[tunist]

yes, i just discovered that!
thankfully an error arose partway through the upgrade that let me cancel it!
i installed lmde testing accidentally when i first installed lmde and it trashed the system!