Careful when updating packages!
24 Jul
I updated the packages in the student webmail server and there were some hiccups with authentication. A simple recompile of nss_ldap and pam_ldap solves the issue. php_cgi wasn’t running also and the problem was with php_curl not being able to load. A recompile of php_curl solves the problem.
The biggest issue was with Squirrelmail authentication which stopped working. My first thought was that pam_ldap and nss_ldap weren’t running alright so I recompiled them again but it was a no go. I enabled authentication debug in dovecot and checked the log, looks like the imap connection die immediately after the authentication was successful. The log in the ldap server shows that everything was working fine.
I was tired so I recompiled the WHOLE packages in the student server hoping that the problem will magically disappear. After several hours, I tried to log in again but… *sigh*. So, after testing that authentication works with POP3, I was convinced that the issue was with Squirrelmail itself.
I checked the Squirrelmail’s plugin first by disabling all and enable them one by one. Lo and behold! secure_login plugin was the culprit!!! Disabling it solves the Squirrelmail authentication problem. I wasted a whole work day just to solve this. And you know what? I think I’ve encountered this before when I first install that plugin hence I disabled it and left the codes in the plugins directory. It was a loooonnngg time ago though so it was completely off of my mind at the time.
Perhaps the plugin was enabled accidentally while I did the updates… Who knows 
. I SHOULD have removed that damn plugin from the system. Lesson learnt! THE HARD WAY! Again… hahahahahah.
