ejabberd live/start is not working - returning error - “Failed to start ejabberd application: Configuration error: duplicated option: listen”

Question

I have cloned the ejabberd repo and followed all the installation instructions. When I start server using command

ejabberdctl live

I get the following error.

Erlang/OTP 22 [erts-10.5.2] [source] [64-bit] [smp:8:8] [ds:8:8:10] [async-threads:1]

Eshell V10.5.2  (abort with ^G)
(ejabberd@localhost)1> 16:31:01.163 [notice] Changed loghwm of /usr/local/var/log/ejabberd/error.log to 100
16:31:01.163 [notice] Changed loghwm of /usr/local/var/log/ejabberd/ejabberd.log to 100
16:31:01.204 [info] Loading configuration from /usr/local/etc/ejabberd/ejabberd.yml
16:31:01.247 [critical] Failed to start ejabberd application: Configuration error: duplicated option: listen

I have not modified the default configuration file which is same as ejabberd.yml.example.

The port 5222 is not being used and there is no duplicate port or listen in the config file.

The configuration file -

###
###              ejabberd configuration file
###
### The parameters used in this configuration file are explained at
###
###       https://docs.ejabberd.im/admin/configuration
###
### The configuration file is written in YAML.
### *******************************************************
### *******           !!! WARNING !!!               *******
### *******     YAML IS INDENTATION SENSITIVE       *******
### ******* MAKE SURE YOU INDENT SECTIONS CORRECTLY *******
### *******************************************************
### Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML for the brief description.
###

hosts:
  - localhost

loglevel: 4
log_rotate_size: 10485760
log_rotate_date: ""
log_rotate_count: 1
log_rate_limit: 100

## If you already have certificates, list them here
# certfiles:
#  - /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.tld/fullchain.pem
#  - /etc/letsencrypt/live/domain.tld/privkey.pem

listen:
  -
    port: 5222
    ip: "::"
    module: ejabberd_c2s
    max_stanza_size: 262144
    shaper: c2s_shaper
    access: c2s
    starttls_required: false
    protocol_options:
      - no_sslv2
      - no_tlsv1_3
  -
    port: 5269
    ip: "::"
    module: ejabberd_s2s_in
    max_stanza_size: 524288
  -
    port: 5443
    ip: "::"
    module: ejabberd_http
    tls: true
    request_handlers:
      /admin: ejabberd_web_admin
      /api: mod_http_api
      /bosh: mod_bosh
      /captcha: ejabberd_captcha
      /upload: mod_http_upload
      /ws: ejabberd_http_ws
  -
    port: 5280
    ip: "::"
    module: ejabberd_http
    request_handlers:
      /admin: ejabberd_web_admin
      /.well-known/acme-challenge: ejabberd_acme
  -
    port: 1883
    ip: "::"
    module: mod_mqtt
    backlog: 1000

s2s_use_starttls: optional

acl:
  local:
    user_regexp: ""
  loopback:
    ip:
      - 127.0.0.0/8
      - ::1/128

access_rules:
  local:
    allow: local
  c2s:
    deny: blocked
    allow: all
  announce:
    allow: admin
  configure:
    allow: admin
  muc_create:
    allow: local
  pubsub_createnode:
    allow: local
  trusted_network:
    allow: loopback

api_permissions:
  "console commands":
    from:
      - ejabberd_ctl
    who: all
    what: "*"
  "admin access":
    who:
      access:
        allow:
          acl: loopback
          acl: admin
      oauth:
        scope: "ejabberd:admin"
        access:
          allow:
            acl: loopback
            acl: admin
    what:
      - "*"
      - "!stop"
      - "!start"
  "public commands":
    who:
      ip: 127.0.0.1/8
    what:
      - status
      - connected_users_number

shaper:
  normal: 1000
  fast: 50000

shaper_rules:
  max_user_sessions: 10
  max_user_offline_messages:
    5000: admin
    100: all
  c2s_shaper:
    none: admin
    normal: all
  s2s_shaper: fast

modules:
  mod_adhoc: {}
  mod_admin_extra: {}
  mod_announce:
    access: announce
  mod_avatar: {}
  mod_blocking: {}
  mod_bosh: {}
  mod_caps: {}
  mod_carboncopy: {}
  mod_client_state: {}
  mod_configure: {}
  mod_disco: {}
  mod_fail2ban: {}
  mod_http_api: {}
  mod_http_upload:
    put_url: https://@HOST@:5443/upload
  mod_last: {}
  mod_mam:
    ## Mnesia is limited to 2GB, better to use an SQL backend
    ## For small servers SQLite is a good fit and is very easy
    ## to configure. Uncomment this when you have SQL configured:
    ## db_type: sql
    assume_mam_usage: true
    default: always
  mod_mqtt: {}
  mod_muc:
    access:
      - allow
    access_admin:
      - allow: admin
    access_create: muc_create
    access_persistent: muc_create
    access_mam:
      - allow
    default_room_options:
      mam: true
  mod_muc_admin: {}
  mod_offline:
    access_max_user_messages: max_user_offline_messages
  mod_ping: {}
  mod_privacy: {}
  mod_private: {}
  mod_proxy65:
    access: local
    max_connections: 5
  mod_pubsub:
    access_createnode: pubsub_createnode
    plugins:
      - flat
      - pep
    force_node_config:
      ## Avoid buggy clients to make their bookmarks public
      storage:bookmarks:
        access_model: whitelist
  mod_push: {}
  mod_push_keepalive: {}
  mod_register:
    ## Only accept registration requests from the "trusted"
    ## network (see access_rules section above).
    ## Think twice before enabling registration from any
    ## address. See the Jabber SPAM Manifesto for details:
    ## https://github.com/ge0rg/jabber-spam-fighting-manifesto
    ip_access: trusted_network
  mod_roster:
    versioning: true
  mod_s2s_dialback: {}
  mod_shared_roster: {}
  mod_stream_mgmt:
    resend_on_timeout: if_offline
  mod_vcard: {}
  mod_vcard_xupdate: {}
  mod_version:
    show_os: false

### Local Variables:
### mode: yaml
### End:
### vim: set filetype=yaml tabstop=8

Answer 1

Looks like, you have dublicates:

  -
    port: 5443
    ip: "::"
    module: ejabberd_http
    tls: true
    request_handlers:
      /admin: ejabberd_web_admin
      /api: mod_http_api
      /bosh: mod_bosh
      /captcha: ejabberd_captcha
      /upload: mod_http_upload
      /ws: ejabberd_http_ws

And

  -
    port: 5280
    ip: "::"
    module: ejabberd_http
    request_handlers:
      /admin: ejabberd_web_admin
      /.well-known/acme-challenge: ejabberd_acme

with the same paths and modules but with different ports... So, try to remove one of this blocks. I know that you use different ports but I don't see duplicates in default configurations... Hope, this will be helpful.

Answer 2

I finally figured out the issue. I had earlier installed web_presence module and it had a yml file with listen in it. That was causing the issue. After removing the module the.ejabberd_modules folder, it works perfectly fine.