corrupt files in postfix folder?

[benji888]

diskwarrior tells me some files in private/etc/postfix folder are corrupt and cannot be repaired

when I try to delete it says they are in use

anyone know what these files are and if it's ok to delete or if deleting will cause problems? (I know some corrupt system files can be deleted and the system will automatically replace them.)

Also (maybe related, maybe not?): I ran diskwarrior because I tried to open something in iBooks and it said the book cannot be opened the book is corrupt, (iPad and iPhone iOS 11.3 manuals of all things, ...and I already tried deleting and downloading those again.)

the corrupt files are:

private/etc/postfix/access
private/etc/postfix/postfix-files
private/etc/postfix/canonical
private/etc/postfix/aliases
private/etc/postfix/transport
private/etc/postfix/virtual
private/etc/postfix/main.cf
private/etc/postfix/header_checks

Also, each of these files have a corresponding file with "~orig" added to them, I also want to delete these if I can.

Alternatively, if necessary, I could delete these files and re-install Sierra 10.12.6 over it.

I've attached a pic of all the files in the postfix folder (postfix-files.d folder appears to be empty):

Also: I tried to access this folder when booted up from an external drive, but, unable to.

 

[organicCPU]

anyone know what these files are and if it's ok to delete or if deleting will cause problems?

Postfix is a built-in Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) that can be configured to send and receive email. The ~orig files are the original ones, replaced by the non ~orig files (kind of preferences backup).

To read the contents of, e.g. access, you could type in Terminal:

more /private/etc/postfix/access

To see the difference of access and access~orig, type:

diff /private/etc/postfix/access~orig /private/etc/postfix/access

If you get a proper output, then it's likely that Disk Warrior is reporting wrong.

Some Postfix installation might be handling some of your email accounts on some of your provider's remote mail server. A local Postfix install is handy, e.g. if you develop websites and need some MTA that can send email from local web forms. Any app that sends you email notifications might use your local Postfix install, too.

As it's normal to have postfix and those corresponding configuration files on macOS, I wouldn't delete them. As the postfix binary is somewhere else on your system, it could be called by some service or app and miss its settings. If you absolutely want to delete them anyways, just make a backup of the postfix folder, in case you're going to need them at some point:

cp -Rvp /private/etc/postfix /some/place/to/backup/postfix

I don't think that Postfix settings, broken or not, can prevent iBook books from opening. iBook downloads usually reside in: ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.BKAgentService/Data/Documents/iBooks/Books and don't have any direct connection to Postfix.

I don't know how to fix the iBook problem, but here some thoughts...
iBook is somehow related to iTunes, your AppleID and maybe iCloud. You should have read/write privileges on the mentioned Books folder. In that folder resides a Books.plist file that seems to keep track of the books. Is there anything suspicious or something that has changed lately so far?

If not, some possible worst case scenarios:
1.) Your drive is a HDD, 5+ years and starting to die
2.) Disk Warrior or other tools messed up your system
3.) You tend to delete some files, your system might need

In case of 1.) backing-up your drive and install a new one is a good idea, in case of 2.) installing the macOS Sierra Combo Update 10.12.6 just over your current installation could help.