Resolved Plesk Postfix RPM overrites /etc/postfix/header_checks with every Postfix package update

[danami]

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TITLE

Plesk Postfix RPM overrites /etc/postfix/header_checks with every Postfix package update

PRODUCT, VERSION, OPERATING SYSTEM, ARCHITECTURE

Product version: Plesk Obsidian 18.0.65.2
OS version: AlmaLinux 8.10 x86_64
Build date: 2024/11/22 08:00
evision: 738ea4038904b53a068e522aa7c64390f4f29d5f

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

The file /etc/postfix/header_checks is meant to be a config file but it gets overwritten with every time Plesk updates Postfix.

Documentation from the /etc/postfix/header_checks file:

#        header_checks - Postfix built-in content inspection
#
# SYNOPSIS
#        header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/header_checks
#        mime_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/mime_header_checks
#        nested_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/nested_header_checks
#        body_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/body_checks
#
#        milter_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/milter_header_checks
#
#        smtp_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_header_checks
#        smtp_mime_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_mime_header_checks
#        smtp_nested_header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_nested_header_checks
#        smtp_body_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/smtp_body_checks

Normally the admin would run postconf -e "header_checks = pcre:/etc/postfix/header_checks" to add it to the config then add any required header checks to that file.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

Run the Plesk installer. If the Postfix package gets updated then the /etc/postfix/header_checks gets reverted.

ACTUAL RESULT

Any changes to /etc/postfix/header_checks get overwritten because it gets reverted back to default.

EXPECTED RESULT

The Plesk Postfix package RPM spec file should mark /etc/postfix/header_checks with %config(noreplace) so it doesn't get overwritten if its been edited.

ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

(DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

YOUR EXPECTATIONS FROM PLESK SERVICE TEAM

Confirm bug

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Thank you for the report, @danami. I forwarded it to our engineers for further review and it was not classified as a Plesk bug. If the header_checks file is added as pcre, it should be complied before use as:

postmap /etc/postfix/header_checks

Then header_checks.db is not overwritten by updates.

 

[danami]

@Sebahat.hadzhi That doesn't make any sense at all. If a user adds a check to /etc/postfix/header_checks then runs postmap to generate the header_checks.db then Plesk updates Postfix and reverts /etc/postfix/header_checks. Then what happens if you want to add another header_check later on? You have re-add everything again because the file was reverted?

 

[danami]

@Sebahat.hadzhi You should also note that you don't need to use postmap to generate a db file when using regular expression tables.

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Thank you for your update. I see your point, that will complicate things if you want to make further updates. I will double-check with our team and get back to you.

 

[danami]

@Sebahat.hadzhi I checked the RPM spec file from the Postfix packages provided by AlmaLinux 9 (not Plesks packages) and they set the header_checks properly like they should be

From the AlmaLinux 9 Postfix RPM spec file:

%attr(0644, root, root) %config(noreplace) %{postfix_config_dir}/header_checks

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Thank you for your follow-up. After further discussion, the case was indeed classified as a bug with ID PPPM-14712. I am sorry for the initial misunderstanding caused by our end and thank you for bringing the issue to our attention. Until a fix is introduced, the only alternative we can suggest is to manually restore the file after an upgrade.

 

[danami]

Just a follow up that this bug was fixed in Plesk 18.0.67.0. Thanks to everyone for fixing this!