amavis[12345]: (12345-02) (!)file utility failed: exit 1

[Mark Martinec]

Michael,

> amavis[12345]: (12345-02) (!)file utility failed: exit 1
> This is FreeBSD (9.2-STABLE, r256062), amavisd-new 2.8.0, and file 5.15.
> Mailserver including amavisd is running in a service jail.
> 
> After a recent port upgrade of file to 5.15, I do get warnings like shown
> in the subject line. In order to debug that issue I did replace the file
> 5.15 by the file 5.11 executable, and well, now those warning messages
> disappeared.
> 
> Here my questions:
> 
> 1. Do others see those warning messages as well, running the combination
> amavisd-new 2.8.0 and file 5.15? 2. Can one safely ignore those messages?

If it occurs on a rare occasion, it is probably safe to ignore,
otherwise it would be worth investigating. Find a mail message
which causes such warning, unpack its attachments, and try
to run the 'file' command on resulting files in the same jail
and by the same UID under which amavisd is running, checking
the resulting exit code.

Other option is to enable debug logging (e.g. '# amavisd debug'),
and grep for 'result line from file' in the log.

> 3. May "$file = '/usr/bin/file';" in amavisd.conf function as a valid
> workaround for the time being? (I have to admit that I didn't dare testing
> that, yet)

Yes, that is certainy a viable option.

  Mark