Public bug reported:
I noticed that on one of my VPS (Oracle Cloud Compute) running Ubuntu
22.04, Postfix wasn't running.
# systemctl status postfix@-.service
× postfix@-.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent (instance -)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/postfix@.service; enabled-runtime;
vendor preset: enabled)
Active: failed (Result: timeout) since Fri 2025-02-28 22:32:01 +08; 3s ago
Docs: man:postfix(1)
Process: 808 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/postfix/configure-instance.sh -
(code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 1381 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/postmulti -i - -p start (code=killed,
signal=TERM)
CPU: 4.184s
Feb 28 22:30:11 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
Agent (instance -)...
Feb 28 22:30:31 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix[1386]: Postfix is running with
backwards-compatible default settings
Feb 28 22:30:31 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix[1386]: See
http://www.postfix.org/COMPATIBILITY_README.html for details
Feb 28 22:30:31 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix[1386]: To disable backwards
compatibility use "postconf compatibility_level=3.6" and "postfix reload"
Feb 28 22:32:01 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: postfix@-.service: start
operation timed out. Terminating.
Feb 28 22:32:01 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: postfix@-.service: Failed with
result 'timeout'.
Feb 28 22:32:01 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: Failed to start Postfix Mail
Transport Agent (instance -).
Feb 28 22:32:01 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: postfix@-.service: Consumed
4.184s CPU time.
I tried to start it manually and it started without any issues:
# systemctl start postfix@-.service
# systemctl status postfix@-.service
● postfix@-.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent (instance -)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/postfix@.service; enabled-runtime;
vendor preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Fri 2025-02-28 22:37:55 +08; 2s ago
Docs: man:postfix(1)
Process: 2895 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/postfix/configure-instance.sh -
(code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 3252 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/postmulti -i - -p start (code=exited,
status=0/SUCCESS)
Tasks: 3 (limit: 1103)
Memory: 40.4M
CPU: 4.091s
CGroup: /system.slice/system-postfix.slice/postfix@-.service
├─3494 /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/master -w
├─3495 pickup -l -t unix -u -c
└─3496 qmgr -l -t unix -u
Feb 28 22:37:47 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: Starting Postfix Mail Transport
Agent (instance -)...
Feb 28 22:37:51 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix[3253]: Postfix is running with
backwards-compatible default settings
Feb 28 22:37:51 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix[3253]: See
http://www.postfix.org/COMPATIBILITY_README.html for details
Feb 28 22:37:51 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix[3253]: To disable backwards
compatibility use "postconf compatibility_level=3.6" and "postfix reload"
Feb 28 22:37:55 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix/postfix-script[3492]: starting the
Postfix mail system
Feb 28 22:37:55 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net postfix/master[3494]: daemon started --
version 3.6.4, configuration /etc/postfix
Feb 28 22:37:55 vpsocsg.bsrealm.net systemd[1]: Started Postfix Mail Transport
Agent (instance -).
I rebooted the host and the service was in failed state again. I tried
that many times. Always the same error messages:
postfix@-.service: Failed with result 'timeout'.
Failed to start Postfix Mail Transport Agent (instance -).
I didn't change system configuration in years. Only updates were
installed automatically.
Maybe due to some Oracle changes there are network connectivity issues
during startup, but this is not a reason not to start the service at
all.
After increasing TimeoutStartSec to 10 minutes, I rebooted and noticed
this:
# systemctl status postfix@-.service
● postfix@-.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent (instance -)
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/postfix@.service; enabled-runtime;
vendor preset: enabled)
Drop-In: /etc/systemd/system/postfix@-.service.d
└─timeout.conf
Active: activating (start) since Fri 2025-02-28 22:50:44 +08; 1min 5s ago
Docs: man:postfix(1)
Process: 804 ExecStartPre=/usr/lib/postfix/configure-instance.sh -
(code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Cntrl PID: 1853 (postmulti)
Tasks: 4 (limit: 1103)
Memory: 4.9M
CPU: 6.853s
CGroup: /system.slice/system-postfix.slice/postfix@-.service
├─1853 /usr/sbin/postmulti -i - -p start
├─1855 /bin/sh /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/postfix-script start
├─1868 /bin/sh /usr/lib/postfix/sbin/postfix-script check-fatal
└─1975 /usr/sbin/postsuper
Eventually service started successfully. I suspect that something in
/usr/lib/postfix/sbin/postfix-script is causing this delay.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 22.04
Package: postfix 3.6.4-1ubuntu1.3
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.8.0-1020.21~22.04.1-oracle 6.8.12
Uname: Linux 6.8.0-1020-oracle x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu82.6
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CloudArchitecture: x86_64
CloudID: oracle
CloudName: oracle
CloudPlatform: oracle
CloudSubPlatform: metadata (http://169.254.169.254/opc/v2/)
Date: Fri Feb 28 22:32:54 2025
ProcEnviron:
SHELL=/bin/bash
LANG=C.UTF-8
TERM=xterm-256color
PATH=(custom, no user)
SourcePackage: postfix
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
** Affects: postfix (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Tags: amd64 apport-bug jammy uec-images
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2100610
Title:
Postfix: start operation timed out after system reboot
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