10.5.3: Server Mail gets even worse, kills incoming SMTP

Question

I did an update to 10.5.3 using the stand-alone installer and, after the delay and restarts Apple warned about, I was presented with the Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD). After an hour and confirmation of no hard drive head movement for at least two minutes, I forced a shut down with the power button. Restarted fine and web back on line. Not a confidence-inspiring update. Actually, it's the first time I've seen Server updates do this.
Then there's Mail. It's now even worse than in 10.5.2. It did not work in 10.5.0, or 10.5.1, or 10.5.2. I was so hoping that Apple would finally make this service work. No such luck. 'Upgrading' turned off SMTP incoming, and there's no way to get it on. Every time I click the button and Save, the button simply unchecks itself.
In my 26 years as an exclusively Apple user (bigot, actually), I've NEVER seen Apple release software as insanely, woefully buggy as Leopard Server. I've seen a few iffy Apple software products, but never anything even approaching this. I'm told that Tiger Server is way better, but my licence is for Leopard.
The upgrade notes do not speak of ANY of the bugs I've reported in Mail since 10.5.0, and there's (naturally) no indication the the upgrade may kill Mail, which it does in my case.
Where does one go to get one's money back, and where does one send the invoice for all the time Apple has wasted by non-consensually making me a beta (alpha) tester of the (ahem) 'bullet-proof, enterprise-level' product? Does Apple not understand that our businesses are at stake, because we base our businesses on reliable, enterprise capable software? Given my experiences with Leopard Server, I just don't see how Apple can claim Server is remotely suitable for enterprise use.
Grrrr.

Answer 1

davidh wrote:
If you make manual edits, then it's key to back them up prior to an update.
It turns out that this is not the problem with either of the issues I encountered.
It's also advisable, to test any update in advance using a non-production server/box
prior to installing it on a production server.
Good advice, but in the two problems I identified in master.cf, a backup would not have helped.
One claim is that the 10.5.3 update makes a change to /etc/services - however:
Not from me. 10.5.3 does cause a situation, however, where on needs to adjust that file to remove error messages in the log.
having a brief look at the contents of the Combo updater (which should include all updated items in/of any 10.5.x update thus far), I don't see anything that changes /etc/services.
This file did not change on my box. It was still dated in Sept., 2007, but the entry for port 465 had to be changed from urb to smtps to make the errors go away.
Maybe it's incredibly well-hidden or I've looked right past it many times, but it doesn't show itself.
Given that services did not change, and master.cf works (after a fashion) in 10.5.3, it seems that the change was made elsewhere during the update. There have been hints by some that they know what the problem is, but they have yet to 'share.'
but again, I'm looking at the comb updater right now.
Which is what I used, all 633 MB of it.