Re: "socket in use" error after installing official clamav package

by default under Ubuntu (REGULAR AND LTS) you have a default cron job which starts clamav on bootup itself (see /etc/cron.daily, /etc/cron.weekly, so on) and then you do also manually the same, so you get 2 sock-files.
Check if  under /etc/init.d/ the wrapper shell clamav-daemon has the permission 0600 (no executuion permission).
Rename in the default cron dirs (named in my first sentence) files like clamav-daemon.
After that you must start clamd always byself in terminal or via a own cronjob on bootup e.g.

DO NOT INSTALL THE CLASSICAL CLAM-AV UNDER UBUNTU, WE HAVE A SPECIAL "UBUNTURIZED" VERSION IN THE REPOSITORY! THE CLASSICAL deb. DO NOT WORK WELL ON UBUNTU!
On Ubuntu 20.04 the current clamav is regular 0.103 ON LTS (READ: https://docs.clamav.net/faq/faq-eol.html), please upgrade to a new Ubuntu Version and then you will get a newer clamav version (1.4.3 or higher) then all should working again, if you install clamav out of our repository.

Von / From: 	Alex Via Clamav-Users <mailto:[email protected]>
An / To: 	Newcomer01 <mailto:[email protected]>
CC / CC: 	1984-Server1 Accompany303 <mailto:[email protected]>
Gesendet / Sent: 	Sonntag, Dezember 07, 2025 um 22:24 (at 10:24 PM) +0100
Betreff / Subject: 	[clamav-users] "socket in use" error after installing official clamav package

> Problem:
> When clamav-daemon.service runs, it always encounters the error "LOCAL: Socket file /run/clamav/clamd.ctl is in use by another process." Then it immediately restarts, and fails again after the signatures have been loaded.
>
> Background:
> I needed to upgrade clamav to 1.4.3 using the official deb package from https://www.clamav.net/downloads
> I made sure I uninstalled the old clamav v0.103 from my distro (Ubuntu 20.04).
> I installed the clamav 1.4.3 .deb package and migrated clamd.conf and freshclam.conf
> I've done some other stuff that I can't quite recall, like fixing the path to the databases that the services point to.
>
> I have found two sockets, and I thin one is from my distro's old installation.
> /var/run/clamav/clamd.ctl
> /run/clamav/clamd.ctl
>
> Since then I have updated clamd.conf to use LocalSocket /run/clamav/clamd.ctl instead of the one under /var
> But strangely, every time I start clamav-daemon.socket it creates both socket files. They both have the same inode.
>
> Is there any way I can resolve this socket conflict?
> Where is the 2nd socket file coming from?
>
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