Hello, IIRC I had a similar problem back in July 2025 (FreeBSD 14.x). After some Perl module upgrade Amavisd-new would fail on startup (syslog would trace that in /var/log/message: /usr/local/etc/rc.d/amavisd: WARNING: failed to start amavisd)
I’ve solved this problem by removing Perl (and 96 depending pkgs), then reinstalling amavisd (and sympa and other softwares depending on Perl). Since then, I’ve upgraded to 5.40.2_2 and later to 5.42.0_1, without any issue. Hope this helps. Patrick PRONIEWSKI > On 22 Feb 2026, at 17:20, Xavier Humbert <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > I'm running FreeBSD 14, I recently upgraded Perl from 5.40 to 5.42 and all > its dependencies as recommended in /usr/ports/UPDATING > > Since then amavisd silently dies when I start it. In my config, I added > $log_level = 5; > $sa_debug = 1; > > I issued the command "service amavisd start" It launches, the dies without > any error message. Here is the relevant part of maillog > > Feb 22 17:03:39 numenor amavis[97168]: logging initialized, log level 5, > syslog: amavis.mail > Feb 22 17:03:39 numenor amavis[97168]: sd_notify (no socket): STATUS=Config > files have been read, modules loaded. > Feb 22 17:03:39 numenor amavis[97168]: starting. /usr/local/sbin/amavisd at > numenor.groumpf.org amavis-2.14.0 (20250711), Unicode aware, LANG="C.UTF-8" > Feb 22 17:03:39 numenor amavis[97168]: perl=5.042000, user=, EUID: 110 (110); > group=(), EGID: 110 110 (110 110) > Feb 22 17:03:39 numenor amavis[97168]: INFO: no optional modules: > bytes_heavy.pl utf8_heavy.pl unicore::To::Lower.pl unicore::To::Upper.pl > unicore::To::Fold.pl unicore::To::Title.pl unicore::To::Digit.pl > unicore::lib::Nt::De.pl unicore::Heavy.pl Unix::Getrusage > Feb 22 17:03:39 numenor amavis[97168]: SpamControl: scanner SpamAssassin, > module Amavis::SpamControl::SpamAssassin > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97168]: INFO: SA version: 4.0.2, 4.000002, no > optional modules: Mail::SpamAssassin::AutoWhitelist > Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::Hashcash > Mail::SpamAssassin::Plugin::WhiteListSubject > auto::Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA::new_public_key > auto::Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA::new_key_from_parameters > auto::Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA::get_key_parameters > auto::Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA::import_random_seed > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97168]: SpamControl: init_pre_chroot on > SpamAssassin done > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97168]: socket module IO::Socket::IP, protocol > families available: INET, INET6 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97168]: will bind to > /var/amavis/amavisd.sock|unix, 127.0.0.1:10024/tcp, [::1]:10024/tcp > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97168]: sd_notify (no socket): > STATUS=Transferring control to Net::Server. > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: Process Backgrounded > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: sd_notify (no socket): > MAINPID=97171\nSTATUS=Daemonized, preparing to bind sockets. > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: 2026/02/22-17:03:40 > Amavis (type Net::Server::PreForkSimple) starting! pid(97171) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: Binding to UNIX socket > file "/var/amavis/amavisd.sock" > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: Binding to TCP port 10024 > on host 127.0.0.1 with IPv4 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: Binding to TCP port 10024 > on host ::1 with IPv6 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: sd_notify (no socket): STATUS=Sockets > bound, checking user and group. > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: Group Not Defined. > Defaulting to EGID '110 110' > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Net::Server: User Not Defined. > Defaulting to EUID '110' > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: sd_notify (no socket): STATUS=The rest > of pre-fork init, finding helper programs. > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: config files read: > /usr/local/etc/amavisd.conf > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Amavis::Conf 2.412 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Archive::Zip 1.68 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Compress::Raw::Zlib 2.213 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Compress::Zlib 2.213 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Crypt::OpenSSL::RSA 0.35 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module DB_File 1.859 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Digest::MD5 2.59 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Digest::SHA 6.04 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Digest::SHA1 2.13 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Encode 3.21 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module File::Temp 0.2311 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module IO::Socket::IP 0.43 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module IO::Socket::SSL 2.095 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module MIME::Entity 5.517 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module MIME::Parser 5.517 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module MIME::Tools 5.517 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Mail::DKIM::Signer 1.20240923 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Mail::DKIM::Verifier 1.20240923 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Mail::Header 2.22 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Mail::Internet 2.22 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Mail::SPF 3.20250505 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Mail::SpamAssassin 4.000002 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Net::DNS 1.53 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Net::LibIDN 0.12 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Net::LibIDN2 1.02 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Net::Patricia 1.24 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Net::SSLeay 1.94 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Net::Server 2.014 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module NetAddr::IP 4.079 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Razor2::Client::Version 2.84 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Scalar::Util 1.70 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Socket 2.040 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Socket6 0.29 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Time::HiRes 1.9778 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module URI 5.34 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Module Unix::Syslog 1.1 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SQL base code NOT loaded > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SQL::Log code NOT loaded > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SQL::Quarantine NOT loaded > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Lookup::SQL code NOT loaded > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Lookup::LDAP code NOT loaded > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found $file at > /usr/local/bin/file > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: No $altermime, not using it > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Internal decoder for .mail > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: No ext program for .F, tried: > unfreeze, freeze -d, melt, fcat > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .Z at > /usr/bin/uncompress > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .gz at > /usr/bin/gzip -d > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Internal decoder for .gz (backup, > not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .bz2 at > /usr/bin/bzip2 -d > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .xz at > /usr/bin/xzdec > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .lzma at > /usr/bin/xz -dc --format=lzma > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .lrz at > /usr/local/bin/lrzip -q -k -d -o - > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .lzo at > /usr/local/bin/lzop -d > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .lz4 at > /usr/local/bin/lz4c -d > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .rpm at > /usr/local/bin/rpm2cpio.pl > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .cpio at /bin/pax > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .tar at /bin/pax > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .deb at > /usr/local/bin/ar > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .rar at > /usr/local/bin/unrar > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .arj at > /usr/local/bin/unarj > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .arc at > /usr/local/bin/nomarch > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .zoo at > /usr/local/bin/zoo > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .doc at > /usr/local/bin/ripole > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .cab at > /usr/local/bin/cabextract > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .tnef at > /usr/local/bin/tnef > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Internal decoder for .tnef (backup, > not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .zip at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .kmz at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Internal decoder for .zip (backup, > not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Internal decoder for .kmz (backup, > not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .7z at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .gz at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .bz2 at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .Z at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .tar at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .xz at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .lzma at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .jar at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .cpio at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .arj at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .rar at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .swf at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .lha at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .iso at > /usr/local/bin/7z > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .cab at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .deb at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .rpm at > /usr/local/bin/7z (backup, not used) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: Found decoder for .exe at > /usr/local/bin/unrar; /usr/local/bin/lha; /usr/local/bin/unarj > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: No decoder for .F > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: initializing Mail::SpamAssassin (0) > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SpamAssassin debug facilities: info,all > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SA dbg: logger: adding facilities: > info, all > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SA dbg: logger: logging level is DBG > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SA dbg: generic: SpamAssassin version > 4.0.2 > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SA dbg: generic: Perl 5.042000, > PREFIX=/usr/local, DEF_RULES_DIR=/usr/local/share/spamassassin, > LOCAL_RULES_DIR=/usr/local/etc/mail/spamassassin, > LOCAL_STATE_DIR=/var/db/spamassassin > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SA dbg: config: timing enabled > Feb 22 17:03:40 numenor amavis[97171]: SA dbg: config: score set 0 chosen. > > All I can see when amavisd is activated in Postfix is : > > Feb 22 16:38:57 numenor postfix/smtpd[92467]: 6DBE91C196A: > client=arnor.groumpf.org[192.168.100.148] > Feb 22 16:38:57 numenor postfix/lmtp[92473]: connect to > 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10024: Connection refused > Feb 22 16:38:57 numenor postfix/lmtp[92473]: 298C11C1A2B: > to=<[email protected]>, relay=none, delay=0.32, delays=0.3/0.02/0/0, > dsn=4.4.1, status=deferred (connect to 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1]:10024: Connection > refused) > > If I run the command service amavisd status, it says that amavisd is not > running. > > Any idea how I can debug this furthermore ? > > Regards, > > Xavier > > -- > Xavier HUMBERT - Unix/Win/MacOSX Sysadmin/Network Engineer > https://www.amdh.fr >
