[Pkg-exim4-users] exim4 stopped sending mail after upgrade from Buster to Bullseye

[Gary Dale]

On 2021-08-23 05:10, Marc Haber wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 22, 2021 at 11:52:07PM -0400, Gary Dale via Pkg-exim4-users wrote:
>> I noticed that the difference between the two servers was that I'd not
>> accepted the new template (exim4.conf.template) on the server that still
>> worked but that I had in the one that broke. When I replaced the template on
>> the working server, it also broke.  I did make a couple of modifications to
>> the old template (as I recall, to handle StartTLS or smtps) but copying them
>> into the new one didn't help. Reverting to the old template fixed the
>> problem.
>>
>> The new template seems to be a lot larger than the old one. Something in it
>> kills my working connection to two different smarthosts.
> This is a textbook example of a questions that omits almost every
> information that might enable people to actually help you.
>
> For the record /etc/exim4/exim4.conf.template is 79161 bytes in current
> buster and 80979 bytes in current bullseye and sid, so if it has become
> "a lot larger", I can confirm that there is "something wrong" on your
> system. I regret that I cannot confirm anything else.

I can't provide more details because I don't actually have any. I can 
give you the names of the two different companies providing the 
smarthosts but that doesn't provide any help unless you happen to have 
an account with one or both of them.

The problem is caused by some change, and there are a lot of them, to 
the template. However that doesn't help in the debugging. It does 
however give me a starting point in my own testing - when I get the time 
to continue it. For now I am simply happy to have a working system again.

If you want to try to find the problem, go for it. I had previously 
submitted the patches (probably when Jessie was stable) I made to the 
template file that allowed exim4 to deal with one or both smarthosts but 
apparently they were not accepted. However they are not sufficient (and 
maybe not necessary) to fix the problem with the new template. The 
patches were to get exim4 to initiate an encrypted connection (don't ask 
for details - I went through this years ago to get it to work but don't 
remember exactly why).

The exim4.conf.localmacros file in both cases is:

REMOTE_SMTP_SMARTHOST_HOSTS_REQUIRE_TLS = *
MAIN_TLS_ENABLE = 1
TLS_ON_CONNECT_PORTS = 465
REQUIRE_PROTOCOL = smtps

with appropriate .ifdefs in the template to insert the directives.