How to solve upgrade problems?

Reading

Code:

man ucf

makes me believe those files in /var/lib/ucf/ are not the cause, but a symptom.
So I would debug APT and try to figure out how to get its database in sync with what is installed and removed.
For example, can you find these 4:4:4: names in /var/lib/dpkg/* ?
Sorry, I do not know how APT works so I'm only guessing where to look. You may have stumbled upon a bug, it may be worth reporting it to Debian. https://www.debian.org/Bugs/ I'm not sure which package to report this against, though.
Try what

Code:

apt-get check

reports and does.

 

inside /var/lib/dpkg/* there is no file 4....
An #apt-get check show all ok.

As you says, maybe this is a bug.
Neither I know about APT. I will read a little more about ucf to try some things. It seems it contains options to purge configurations. If no luck then probably I will do a complete new installation.

Anyway, lot of thanks for your help. The thread drive me closer to the cause.

 

finally I believe the issue is solved

I have applied inside one script the purge commands with ucfr (instead ucf) for all the strange items inside /var/lib/ucf/registry :

Code:

#!/bin/bash
ucfr -p 2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:2:grub-pc      /etc/default/grub
ucfr -p 3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:3:rkhunter       /etc/default/rkhunter
ucfr -p 4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:4:dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
ucfr -p 5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:5:dovecot-core       /etc/dovecot/dovecot-dict-auth.conf.ext
ucfr -p 6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:6:dovecot-core         /etc/dovecot/dovecot-dict-sql.conf.ext
ucfr -p 7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:7:dovecot-core   /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
ucfr -p 8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:8:dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf
ucfr -p 9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:9:dovecot-core       /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-director.conf
ucfr -p 10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:10:dovecot-core   /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-logging.conf
ucfr -p 11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:11:dovecot-core      /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf
ucfr -p 12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:12:dovecot-core         /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf
ucfr -p 13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:13:dovecot-core    /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-tcpwrapper.conf
ucfr -p 14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:14:dovecot-core       /etc/dovecot/conf.d/15-lda.conf
ucfr -p 15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:15:dovecot-core          /etc/dovecot/conf.d/15-mailboxes.conf
ucfr -p 16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:16:dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-acl.conf
ucfr -p 17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:17:dovecot-core        /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-plugin.conf
ucfr -p 18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:18:dovecot-core   /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-quota.conf
ucfr -p 19:19:19:19:19:19:19:19:19:19:19:19:19:dovecot-core      /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-checkpassword.conf.ext
ucfr -p 20:20:20:20:20:20:20:20:20:20:20:20:dovecot-core         /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-deny.conf.ext
ucfr -p 21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:21:dovecot-core    /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-dict.conf.ext
ucfr -p 22:22:22:22:22:22:22:22:22:22:dovecot-core       /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-master.conf.ext
ucfr -p 23:23:23:23:23:23:23:23:23:dovecot-core          /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-passwdfile.conf.ext
ucfr -p 24:24:24:24:24:24:24:24:dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext
ucfr -p 25:25:25:25:25:25:25:dovecot-core        /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-static.conf.ext
ucfr -p 26:26:26:26:26:26:dovecot-core   /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-system.conf.ext
ucfr -p 27:27:27:27:27:dovecot-core      /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-vpopmail.conf.ext
ucfr -p 28:28:28:28:dovecot-lmtpd        /etc/dovecot/conf.d/20-lmtp.conf
ucfr -p 29:29:29:dovecot-sieve   /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve.conf
ucfr -p 30:30:dovecot-sieve      /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-sieve-extprograms.conf
ucfr -p 31:dovecot-pop3d         /etc/dovecot/conf.d/20-pop3.conf

then:
# apt-get remove dovecot-* --purge

although the command "# dpkg --get-selections | grep dovecot" still shows dovecot registries. Then:

Code:

# dpkg -P dovecot-core
# dpkg -P dovecot-imapd
# dpkg -P dovecot-lmtpd               
# dpkg -P dovecot-pop3d               
# dpkg -P dovecot-sieve

then:

# apt-get update
# apt-get install dovecot-core

and this new install shows no errors.

However, the ISPC update failed:

Code:

# cd /tmp
# wget http://www.ispconfig.org/downloads/ISPConfig-3.1.13p1.tar.gz
# tar xvfz ISPConfig-3.1.13p1.tar.gz
# cd ispconfig3_install/install
# php -q update.php

reconfigure services: yes
....
Restarting services ...
Job for dovecot.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status dovecot.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
Update finished.

# systemctl status dovecot.service
 ... Fatal: service(pop3) access(/usr/lib/dovecot/pop3) failed: No such file or directory

some dovecot parts still demands to be installed. I thought these were installed before... (?)

Code:

# apt-get install dovecot-pop3d
# apt-get install dovecot-imapd
...
W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (8 vs 12).
   Affected packages: dovecot-core:amd64

just that warning.

Also dovecot-mysql was missing:

Code:

# systemctl start dovecot.service

# tail -f /var/log/mail.log
...  host dovecot: auth: Fatal: Unknown database driver 'mysql'

# apt-get install dovecot-mysql

# systemctl restart dovecot.service
? dovecot.service - Dovecot IMAP/POP3 email server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/dovecot.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Sun 2019-04-14 20:09:22 CEST; 4s ago
     Docs: man:dovecot(1)
           http://wiki2.dovecot.org/
  Process: 1079 ExecStop=/usr/bin/doveadm stop (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
  Process: 1084 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/dovecot (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 1086 (dovecot)
    Tasks: 4 (limit: 4915)
   CGroup: /system.slice/dovecot.service
           +-1086 /usr/sbin/dovecot
           +-1087 dovecot/anvil
           +-1088 dovecot/log
           +-1090 dovecot/config

finally it works

With openssh-server no problem, just reinstall, re-paste my config file, and restart
Now the # apt-get upgrade shows clean result.

Inside /var/lib/ucf/registry shows no problem:

Code:

...
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/dovecot.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/dovecot-dict-auth.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/dovecot-dict-sql.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/dovecot-sql.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-auth.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-director.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-logging.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-mail.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-master.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/10-tcpwrapper.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/15-lda.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/15-mailboxes.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-acl.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-plugin.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/90-quota.conf
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-checkpassword.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-deny.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-dict.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-master.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-passwdfile.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-sql.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-static.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-system.conf.ext
dovecot-core     /etc/dovecot/conf.d/auth-vpopmail.conf.ext
openssh-server   /etc/ssh/sshd_config
dovecot-pop3d    /etc/dovecot/conf.d/20-pop3.conf
dovecot-imapd    /etc/dovecot/conf.d/20-imap.conf

so I think it seems the end of this issue..

It was only this warning in the process:

Code:

W: APT had planned for dpkg to do more than it reported back (8 vs 12).
   Affected packages: dovecot-core:amd64

althoug when I do # apt-get check shows no error. I hope it will be a normal task.

At the end it seems the solution was in the use of ucfr.
I leave here in case other people can suffer this bug or whatever thing it is. Not too much info about ucf-ucfr searching in Google.

Thanks for the help!