I am running ubuntu 9.10 karmic x86 server and got an error installing xmail. It bombed at the end of the install maybe because while in my ssh/putty session it popped up a screen asking me to configure something and I could not tab or navigate in that screen. It did install binaries such as sendmail but now when I run apt-get update and apt-get upgrade I get this message:

Hit http://us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/universe Sources
Get:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Packages [54.1kB]
Get:4 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com karmic-updates/universe Sources [12.2kB]
Fetched 111kB in 1s (63.1kB/s)
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Setting up xmail (1.25-4) ...
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/aliasdomain.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/aliases.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/ctrl.ipmap.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/ctrlaccounts.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/domains.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/extaliases.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/filters.in.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/filters.out.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/filters.post-data.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/filters.post-rcpt.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/filters.pre-data.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/finger.ipmap.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/mailusers.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/pop3.ipmap.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/pop3links.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/server.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtp.ipmap.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtp.ipprop.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtpauth.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtpextauth.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtpfwd.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtpgw.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/smtprelay.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/spam-address.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/spammers.tab': File exists
ln: creating symbolic link `/var/lib/xmail/userdef.tab': File exists
dpkg: error processing xmail (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
xmail
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

========
Any ideas on how to fix this? My guess would be to uninstall xmail and get my ssh session and screen to allow me to navigate when it pops up configuration questions.

I pasted my initial install session into a file to show what happened and where it froze:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/+package/xmail
advanced, fast and reliable ESMTP/POP3 mail server

XMail is an Internet mail server featuring an SMTP, POP3 and finger server.
It's incredibly easy to set up and has lots of features including :
multiple domains, virtual users and spam protection.
=============

Xmail server has a sendmail replacement that is mostly used by system programs and daemons to send mail containing their output or .
. results. .
. .
. Historically, those programs use a user name (usually root) that is not followed by a domain. .
. .
. Xmail server is a 100% RFC compliant server that does not allow "default" domains. Its users are completely virtual and separated from .
. the system users. .
. .
. You must have at least one valid domain and one valid user created to receive mail from those programs. .
. .
. Default Local Domain Name: .
. .
. /etc/mailname__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ .
.
============
It locked on me in my ssh putty session asking me to complete /etc/mailname...

Thanks for any advice on this.

(NOTE - One of the bugs in the installer for xmail is that it is looking for a domain name on that last line, NOT a path like /etc/mailname... very confusing if havent read the complainsts on the web dating back to 2006 on this...D'oh)

_________________
Penguinista

-----------------------------------------------------
“Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.” -- Linus Torvalds

Hey I get to reply to my own message. Cool!
Anyway, I found out a couple of things from this problem.

1) In putty, set the keyboard to vt100 and backspace to Control-H,
that fixed the problem with my keyboard getting stuck during installation asking questions for the configuration. (Had the same issue on a couple of package installs)

2) XMail seems to still be buggy on Ubuntu in terms of the install.
I found at least one post on my problem dating back to 2006!
Unacceptable! So back to purging XMail from my system and on to installing Sendmail.

3) Move along, nothing more to see here...

_________________
Penguinista



-----------------------------------------------------

“Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.” -- Linus Torvalds

Sendmail is probably fine if you're already familiar with it. Otherwise, I've found Postfix to be easy to pick up and it does what I need. Others prefer exim (and I think it is the Debian/Ubuntu default?). The packages for both of these choices seem to be maintained well.

I know nothing of XMail so can't provide a useful comparison.

===
Thanks Vance for the info. I guess I should have explained what I was looking to use sendmail/xmail for. I need a low maintenance mail program for things like web forms. But I don't need a full blown MTA since I have outsourced that function to Google apps for domains.
It sounded like xmail would fit the bill (it supplies a /usr/sbin/sendmail) but again the install was buggy. So for now the regular sendmail package will suffice. But if you think exim or postfix would be appropriate in this situation I would be interested.

_________________
Penguinista



-----------------------------------------------------

“Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems.” -- Linus Torvalds

If all you need is a replacement for command-line sendmail, ssmtp can probably do the job. A couple articles to give you the basics (and it's so simple there's really not much to say beyond that):
http://www.nixtutor.com/linux/send-mail ... and-ssmtp/
http://www.linux.com/archive/feature/132006

Note that it is not a daemon and doesn't listen on any port for mail - it's strictly for cat foo | sendmail bar@example.com and similar uses. You may want to make sure that's the way your forms work from the beginning - on one system I couldn't use ssmtp like I had planned because PHP's mail() function was configured to use port 25 and not use the sendmail command. Setting up Postfix was easier than trying to fool with PHP.