Sendmail message: File descriptors missing on startup

[ponetguy2]

Dec 20 15:34:32 hostname sendmail[2525]: [ID 702911 mail.warning] File descriptors missing on startup: stderr; Bad file number
Dec 20 15:34:32 hostname sendmail[2524]: [ID 702911 mail.warning] File descriptors missing on startup: stderr; Bad file number
Dec 20 15:34:32 hostname sendmail[2529]: [ID 702911 mail.warning] File descriptors missing on startup: stderr; Bad file number
Dec 20 15:34:32 hostname sendmail[2532]: [ID 702911 mail.warning] File descriptors missing on startup: stderr; Bad file number
Dec 20 15:34:32 hostname sendmail[2528]: [ID 702911 mail.warning] File descriptors missing on startup: stderr; Bad file number
Dec 20 15:34:32 hostname sendmail[2526]: [ID 702911 mail.warning] File descriptors missing on startup: stderr; Bad file number

Hello Everyone, I would really appreciate your assistance on this matter.

We disabled sendmail on our server (V480 w/ Solaris 9), but we still get this error messages. It seems like there is an appliction sending mail to our server or an application sending messages from our server. This message occur during startup. Please explain.

I also found this comment on the web when I googled the error messages:

since version 8.12.1 (8.12.0 ?) sendmail complains if a program piping
data to it doesn't have stdin, stdout and stderr opened; smtpfwdd(8)
doesn't open stdout and stderr when forwarding a mail to sendmail,
therefore an anoying system messages is generated for each incoming mail

Can anyone help me find a way to make this log go away?

 

[Annihilannic]

If you have disabled sendmail's daemon mode it's definitely a local application trying to send mail.

mv /usr/lib/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail.disabled will stop it, however of course that will mean nothing will be able to send mail from your system.

Annihilannic.

 

[ponetguy2]

thank you for the response. i'm afraid we can not completely disable sendmail. we have scripts which monitors the system and sends out alert mails when something happens.

however, i did find something on the web which claims to have fixed they problem by switching the sendmail.cf file to an older version of sendmail. i might try this.

 

[kHz]

You don't have to have sendmail running to send mail. Only if you are going to receive mail on the host.

Which version of sendmail? Backdate sendmail???

 

[Annihilannic]

No, but if you rename /usr/lib/sendmail like I suggested I'm pretty sure that breaks outgoing mail as well.

Annihilannic.

 

[kHz]

Make sure /etc/aliases contain:

postmaster: root
MAILER-DAEMON: postmaster

Then run:
sendmail -bv MAILER-DAEMON
sendmail -bv postmaster

if they hand then rebuild /etc/aliases with `newaliases` or `sendmail -bi`and see if you have anything in /var/spool/mqueue. Sendmail saves messages with Qf<id> when sendmail panics. You can troubleshoot sendmail with one of the messages using `sendmail -v -qI<id> -d11`.

 

[ponetguy2]

WOW!!! thank you for the suggestion guys. i'll try that once the box we fix the boot problem. hehehe

it's currently in single user mode.

 

[coffeysm]

What version of Sendmail are you using? Also if you change the cf file that might open you up to more errors. Check your /etc/aliases file and see if there is anything that is piping mail to a command. It would be like root:|some command I believe. You should also check the home directories for any .forward files that might tell it to pipe its output to a command. You can also try this:

cd /etc/mail
cp sendmail.cf sendmail.cf.ORIG
cp subsidiary.cf sendmail.cf

Solaris usually has default CF files in that directory, that one is to forward all mail off to a mailhost.

 

[ponetguy2]

unfortunately, our box is still down. it has hardware issues.
i can't get to this problem until it is up again.

thank you everyone for your suggestions.