• Description of problem:
  =======================

If parameter queue_directory is defined and postfix is started via systemctl with `systemctl restart postfix` causes timeout issue.

~~~
[root@localhost postfix]# systemctl start postfix
Job for postfix.service failed because a timeout was exceeded.
See "systemctl status postfix.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

[root@localhost postfix]# systemctl status postfix.service
● postfix.service - Postfix Mail Transport Agent
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/postfix.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
Active: failed (Result: timeout) since Fri 2023-08-18 05:40:23 BST; 1min 9s ago
Process: 62423 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/postfix start (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 62421 ExecStartPre=/usr/libexec/postfix/chroot-update (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 62418 ExecStartPre=/usr/libexec/postfix/aliasesdb (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 62416 ExecStartPre=/usr/sbin/restorecon -R /var/spool/postfix/pid/master.pid (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

Aug 18 05:40:23 localhost systemd[1]: postfix.service: start operation timed out. Terminating.
Aug 18 05:40:23 localhost systemd[1]: postfix.service: Failed with result 'timeout'.
Aug 18 05:40:23 localhost systemd[1]: Failed to start Postfix Mail Transport Agent.
~~~

• Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
  =============================================================

Producible in RHEL8 and RHEL9 but not in RHEL7

• How reproducible:
  =================

Always

• Steps to Reproduce:
  ==================

1. Make a custom queue directory and make sure correct permissions and context set.

~~~

1. mkdir /mailqueue
   ~~~

2. Change parameter in /etc/postfix/main.cf

~~~
#queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix
queue_directory = /mailqueue
~~~

3. Restart postfix

• Actual results:
  ==============

• Unit fails with 'timeout'

• Expected results:

• Postfix starts without issue.

• Additional info:
  ================

=> Not reproducible in RHEL7. Only in RHEL8 and RHEL9

=> Upon changing queue_directory, postfix creates pid inside $queue_directory/pid/ but systemd still waiting for /var/spool/postfix/pid/master.pid which makes unit in activating state and fails when timeout (90 seconds) reaches

=> We can manually start the postfix with `# postfix start` command

=> Workaround:

1. Copy the unit file to /etc/ which is recommended while making changes to unit file:

~~~

1. cp /usr/lib/systemd/system/postfix.service /etc/systemd/system/postfix.service
2. vi /etc/systemd/system/postfix.service
   ~~~

2. Change below lines:

~~~
PIDFile=/mailqueue/pid/master.pid
ExecStartPre=-/usr/sbin/restorecon -R /mailqueue/pid/master.pid
~~~

3. save the file

4. reload daemon and restart the service

1. systemctl daemon-reload
2. systemctl restart postfix