SA 3.0.1 Install failure lessons learned

[Steve Campbell]

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I think I have the MS-4.31.6/SA-3.0.1 upgrade running now on my Tao box. If
anyone is interested, this is what I learned during this process.

The MailScanner upgrade went very smoothly.

I downloaded *.rpm.tar.gz file. So far so good.
  # gzip -dc MailScanner-4.31-6.rpm.tar.gz | tar xf -
  # cd MailScanner-4.31-6

I upgraded the db4 libs from 4.1.25 to 4.2.52 (Thanks to Steve Freegard and
Steve Swaney).
Look in the MailScanner archives for "Re: Problem installing SpamAssassin
3.0.1"
I downloaded the rpms from
http://projects.standblue.net/rpms/subversion/1.0.2/rhes3.0/db4/
As per the suggestions:
   # rpm -e db4-devel
   # rpm -e db4-utils

This will still leave the db4 4.1.25 main rpm installed. Next install (not
upgrade) the new db4 + devel+ utils rpms.

   # rpm -ivh db4*

I rebuilt the DB_file with the new db4 library

   #perl -MCPAN
   # yes or no - what ever is applicable for your setup. I used no
   # cpan> force install DB_file

Now install MailScanner with the installation script.

   # ./install.sh

Follow all the normal stuff like updating your MailScanner.conf and search
for all of the *.rpmnew files

Now the fun begins:

I downloaded the INSTALL-rpm.sh script for installing SA and CLAM and ran
that. This failed due to dependency problems. I failed to realize that there
was a difference between the full spamassassin package and the perl module
that the script was going to install. Here Steve Swaney spoke up and made me
see the light. I just didn't recognize what he was saying at the time.

I downloaded the source and was prepared to install this. After unpacking
the source and reading the UPGRADE file, I realized that the bayes files
needed upgrading BEFORE and AFTER starting SA3. One location said to run
sa-learn --rebuild BEFORE; another said to run sa-learn --sync AFTER. One is
the old version, the other the new. So I ran the BEFORE before starting SA3

   # sa-learn --rebuild -p /etc/MailScanner/spam.assassin.prefs.conf

This ran fine, so I figured I was on the right track. I had finally realized
why the INSTALL-rpm.sh was not working, so I deleted my old spamassassin
RPMs

   # rpm -e spamassassin
   # rpm -e spamassassin-tools

I then ran the INSTALL-rpm.sh --noclam and all went well
   # ./INSTALL-rpm.sh --noclam

Then I ran the new sa-learn --sync stuff and it wouldn't update. No matter
what I tried, this kept saying that it couldn't use the db 2 format. The
only option I had was to delete my bayes files and start fresh.

I ran a spamassassin --lint on my current setup and found that some of the
old RBL rules were not valid anymore

   # spamassassin -p /etc/MailScanner/spam.assassin.prefs.conf --lint

I then commented out of my spam.assassin.prefs.conf the above erroneous
entries and added the "auto_white_list 0" flag.

I started MailScanner and all seemed well except for the bayes stuff not
being current. Hopefully this will resolve itself shortly.

I have three problems left from the above details that I need to resolve.

1)  The bayes problem. I need to find out why this happened as I have two
more servers to upgrade.
2)  The start/stop script for MailScanner does not seem to work as before
_for me_. When I run stop, I get the return that all is OK, but when I look,
the queue runners may still be cooking. I have to manually kill these
sometimes. If I don't, then obviously I get a message on restart that the
socket/port is already in use. This bothers me a little.
3)  The best way to upgrade a RH 7.3 server as this is running perl 5.6 and
SA does not support < perl 5.8

Anyway, I hope this helps someone as much as others have helped me.

Steve Campbell
campbell at cnpapers.com
Charleston Newspapers

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