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!
