Subject: A core dumping /usr/lib/sendmail

From: [email-masked] (Larry Donahue)
Date: 23 Sep 1993 22:46:59 GMT

Hello.

Just wanted to run this problem by everyone and see if they are experiencing
it too...  I have Solaris v2.2 with all the manditory patches.  My
/usr/lib/sendmail core dumps every once in a while.  Maybe once every two
days, approximately.  

I've talked with Sun for weeks.  At first, my sendmail was core dumping 
approximately 5 times/day.  A guy at Sun helped correct the problem by
giving me a new main.cf and we removing the old /etc/mail/sendmail.cf.  I
was told that you're really not supposed to modify that main.cf file, and
core dumps were likely with too much modification.

So, I had a new sendmail.cf.  The problem is, it still core dumped every
once in a while.  Also, it had no BITNET capability.  After much complaining,
Sun gave me the following line to add in my sendmail.cf file for BITNET
forwarding:

R$*<@$*.bitnet>$*       $#ddn $@$cunyvm.CUNY.EDU $:$1<@$2.bitnet>$3

The problem is, my sendmail IS STILL CORE DUMPING!  Sun was good enough to
send me a unstripped version of /usr/lib/sendmail.mx.  The following is the
result of dbx on sendmail:

   root@chicagokent[3667] cd /var/spool/mqueue
   root@chicagokent[3668] dbx /usr/lib/sendmail
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/sendmail
   corefile read successfully
   Reading symbolic information for rtld /usr/lib/ld.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libsocket.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libnsl.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libresolv.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libelf.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libc.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libdl.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libintl.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/libw.so.1
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/nswfiles.so
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/switch.so
   Reading symbolic information for /usr/lib/nswdns.so
   program terminated by signal SEGV (segmentation violation)
   warning: can't find object file /usr/patches/sendmail/src/savemail.o
   warning: can't find object file /usr/patches/sendmail/src/envelope.o
   warning: can't find object file /usr/patches/sendmail/src/main.o
   warning: can't find object file /usr/patches/sendmail/src/srvrsmtp.o
   (dbx) where
   returntosender(0x1, 0x0, 0x1, 0x6f1c0, 0x0, 0xefffe98c) at 0x1de10
   savemail(0x59c50, 0x49c8c, 0x5d960, 0x7efefeff, 0x81010100, 0xff00) at 0x1d7b8
   dropenvelope(0x59c50, 0x0, 0x5b138, 0x6e, 0x21, 0x0) at 0x2e238
   finis(0x4a408, 0x4a40c, 0xeffffdc5, 0x48d84, 0xeffff3d0, 0x48d84) at 0x17020
   smtp(0x59c50, 0x9, 0x0, 0x59800, 0x5cb30, 0xeffff3d0) at 0x28320
   main(0x73, 0x5b000, 0x73, 0x59000, 0x0, 0x5b2e0) at 0x16d48
   (dbx) quit

Notice the SEGV?  At any rate, my first question/comment is:  Is a SEGV
likely with sendmail.cf hacking?  I was under the firm impression that if
anything SEGV's, it's bad and it's a bug.  A SEGV usually represents a
haywire pointer which should be controlled in a well written program.  Sun
insists that is normal.  What do you think?

Second, any ideas on what may cause this?  Is it truely a bug, or is there
something I might check on my system?

Any comments/suggestions/ideas appreciated.  Thanks!

Larry Donahue.
--
Laurence S. Donahue
Student/Staff of Chicago-Kent College of Law
[email-masked]
(312)906-5313

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