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I'm getting this error when ever I install any packages via apt-get: 

hostname: Name or service not known
dpkg: error processing ssmtp (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Setting up libt1-5 (5.1.2-3.4ubuntu1) ...
Setting up php5-gd (5.3.10-1ubuntu3.2) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Errors were encountered while processing:
 ssmtp
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Why this is happening?

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1
  • I had the same issue, the problem was related to the fact that the DNS did not help any entry for the hostname - therefore the FQDN was unavailable.
    – user261491
    Mar 24, 2014 at 8:18

6 Answers 6

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23

run hostname --fqdn

If you get an error, edit /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts with a proper hostname.

Then aptitude install ssmtp again to get it to install.

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  • "proper" means: must contain a period and no spaces.
    – rubo77
    Jul 10, 2020 at 22:03
  • 2
    the hostname from /etc/hostname must match the one in etc/hosts 127.0.0.1 section
    – rubo77
    Jul 10, 2020 at 22:04
15

Editing of /etc/hosts did the trick. The file /etc/hostname was correct with containing only server.exmaple.com

But the hosts was not correct

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 server

I changed it to this:

127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain  localhost
192.168.xxx.xxx  server.example.com   server

then I ran hostname -f (short for hostname --fqdn) and got the following.

server.example.com
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10

Solution:

(These types of problems don't have good solutions. But only some haking-ish)

You should first try this command in a terminal:

sudo apt-get -f install

If it doesn't work, process with haking-ish solution.

Try temporarily moving the configuration script of ssmtp.

  1. Open a terminal and execute this command to move them to the current dir

      sudo mv /var/lib/dpkg/info/ssmtp* .

  2. Then try using apt-get

The cause of the problem:

The previous installation or removal might not completed successfully, leaving some configuration step to be done for ssmtp package. Since, dpkg won't progress without first completing the steps, subsequent use of apt-get now get stuck on that step.

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0
5

Most likely your internet connection is not working properly. Specifically I think your DNS is not resolving properly.

try to add the line 

nameserver 80.80.80.80

to your /etc/resolv.conf

This will add the freenom DNS server temporarily (until the next boot)

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2
  • 1
    That is a generated file. How do I manage it?
    – chovy
    Dec 18, 2015 at 18:10
  • @chovy if you're still wondering about this, it's safe to go ahead and sudoedit /etc/resolv.conf to replace whatever address is there with 8.8.8.8 to resolve temporary DNS issues. The file will be regenerated on the next boot, so you can't do anything too disastrous here unless rebooting isn't an option
    – Zanna ♦
    Feb 7, 2017 at 21:13
3

I ran into this error this morning, and it turned out that the hostname was misspelled in /etc/hostname. Correcting this so it agreed with the hostname spelling in /etc/hosts cleared up the problem. The hostname -b -F /etc/hostname command that runs at boot time apparently cannot complete unless /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts agree.

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  • This answer resolved it for me: First I made sure /etc/hosts and /etc/hostname agree. Then I ran the "command that runs at boot time", only without the -b flag (as it merely allows the specified file to be non-existant, but it is here). And bang: hostname --fqdn returns proper FQDN again.
    – isync
    Oct 13, 2017 at 23:23
  • Ad I think the hostname, you choose must contain at least one period
    – rubo77
    Jul 10, 2020 at 21:58
2

I've gotten the message on my home network on an Ubuntu system with a dynamically assigned IP address from a router providing a combined DHCP and DNS server for my network.

The message: hostname: Name or service not known can be caused by such a device going down, if only for an instant.

For example this can happen if my home router is rebooted when my power goes out.

The problem here is that the DHCP service your network is relying upon forgets all of the IP addresses it has assigned and the associated domain names. When your computer checks the associated dns server for its own name the server no longer has it. Some DHCP servers may avoid problems by writing the assignments they have made to their disk or flash memory so nothing is lost when they restart.

The server may ordinarily take your computername from your systems DHCP request, make it computername.local and store that in its records, making it available in its associated DNS server simultaneously. Usually hostname -fqdn requests the full domain name over your network from your DNS server and if it has the record it will return that name. The .local suffix makes it look like a valid fully qualified domain name (though it isn't really a valid global domain name). This is why you may not have to specify a domain name manually in /etc/hosts or /etc/hostname files.

The DHCP server restarting may cause further problems as IP addresses may be assigned to multiple computers simultaneously, causing some not to be able to communicate. The address is assigned once before the server restarts, and again after it does.

If your DHCP server forgets its assignments the safe thing to do is to reconnect each computer it serves when it restarts. When I lost mine I simply disconnected and reconnected to my wifi access point. On a wired network you can use ifdown and ifup or simply disconnect and reconnect the network cable. When reconnecting my system automatically uses dhclient to get a new address--my computer and the server now agree on who I am, and the message no longer appears.

If you wait long enough the DHCP lease will timeout and your system will ask for and get a new lease from the server--clearing up the problem. This will probably be hours or days later (for my server it is one day).

If you have defined a static IP name and address and if the DNS reverse look-up records are correct the problem shouldn't happen.

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