I've just gone through an upgrade from a basic squeeze installation on which sa-compile and sa-update had previously run successfully, and I don't see the behavior you're talking about. Had you enabled the cron job and run sa-compile successfully prior to the upgrade? My test system is a virtual machine on which only minimal packages were installed (e.g. nothing was selected from tasksel, and the only individual packages installed were openssh-server, spamassassin, and re2c), so it's hard to see where there might be a missing dependency.
For reference, here are the relevant bits from my upgrade transcript:
root@squeeze:~# apt-get install spamassassin re2c
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
binutils cpp cpp-4.4 gcc gcc-4.4 libc-dev-bin libc6-dev libdb4.7
libdigest-hmac-perl libdigest-sha1-perl liberror-perl libfont-afm-perl
libgmp3c2 libgomp1
libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
libio-socket-inet6-perl libmail-spf-perl libmailtools-perl libmpfr4
libnet-dns-perl libnet-ip-perl libnetaddr-ip-perl libsocket6-perl
libsys-hostname-long-perl libtimedate-perl liburi-perl libwww-perl
linux-libc-dev make
manpages-dev perl perl-modules spamc
Suggested packages:
binutils-doc cpp-doc gcc-4.4-locales gcc-multilib autoconf automake1.9
libtool flex bison gdb gcc-doc gcc-4.4-multilib libmudflap0-4.4-dev gcc-4.4-doc
libgcc1-dbg libgomp1-dbg libmudflap0-dbg libcloog-ppl0 libppl-c2 libppl7
glibc-doc libdata-dump-perl libcrypt-ssleay-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl make-doc
perl-doc libterm-readline-gnu-perl libterm-readline-perl-perl razor
libnet-ident-perl libdbi-perl pyzor libcompress-zlib-perl libmail-dkim-perl
Recommended packages:
libsys-syslog-perl
The following NEW packages will be installed:
binutils cpp cpp-4.4 gcc gcc-4.4 libc-dev-bin libc6-dev libdb4.7
libdigest-hmac-perl libdigest-sha1-perl liberror-perl libfont-afm-perl
libgmp3c2 libgomp1
libhtml-format-perl libhtml-parser-perl libhtml-tagset-perl libhtml-tree-perl
libio-socket-inet6-perl libmail-spf-perl libmailtools-perl libmpfr4
libnet-dns-perl libnet-ip-perl libnetaddr-ip-perl libsocket6-perl
libsys-hostname-long-perl libtimedate-perl liburi-perl libwww-perl
linux-libc-dev make
manpages-dev perl perl-modules re2c spamassassin spamc
0 upgraded, 38 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 28.9 MB of archives.
After this operation, 95.6 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
...
Setting up spamassassin (3.3.1-1) ...
SpamAssassin Mail Filter Daemon: disabled, see /etc/default/spamassassin
root@squeeze:~# sa-update -v
Update available for channel updates.spamassassin.org
Update was available, and was downloaded and installed successfully
root@squeeze:~# sa-compile
Jul 23 23:56:17.520 [5628] info: generic: base extraction starting. this can
take a while...
Jul 23 23:56:17.520 [5628] info: generic: extracting from rules of type body_0
100%
[=========================================================================================================================]
79.64 rules/sec 00m07s DONE
100%
[=========================================================================================================================]
268.94 bases/sec 00m09s DONE
Jul 23 23:56:35.153 [5628] info: body_0: 1039 base strings extracted in 18
seconds
cd /tmp/.spamassassin5628tyS9VGtmp
cd Mail-SpamAssassin-CompiledRegexps-body_0
re2c -i -b -o scanner1.c scanner1.re
re2c -i -b -o scanner2.c scanner2.re
re2c -i -b -o scanner3.c scanner3.re
re2c -i -b -o scanner4.c scanner4.re
re2c -i -b -o scanner5.c scanner5.re
re2c -i -b -o scanner6.c scanner6.re
/usr/bin/perl Makefile.PL PREFIX=/tmp/.spamassassin5628tyS9VGtmp/ignored
INSTALLSITEARCH=/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.010/3.003001
Writing Makefile for Mail::SpamAssassin::CompiledRegexps::body_0
make
cp body_0.pm blib/lib/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0.pm
/usr/bin/perl /usr/share/perl/5.10/ExtUtils/xsubpp -typemap
/usr/share/perl/5.10/ExtUtils/typemap body_0.xs > body_0.xsc && mv body_0.xsc
body_0.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" body_0.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" scanner1.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" scanner2.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" scanner3.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" scanner4.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" scanner5.c
cc -c -D_REENTRANT -D_GNU_SOURCE -DDEBIAN -fno-strict-aliasing -pipe
-fstack-protector -I/usr/local/include -D_LARGEFILE_SOURCE
-D_FILE_OFFSET_BITS=64 -O2 -g -DVERSION=\"1.0\" -DXS_VERSION=\"1.0\" -fPIC
"-I/usr/lib/perl/5.10/CORE" scanner6.c
Running Mkbootstrap for Mail::SpamAssassin::CompiledRegexps::body_0 ()
chmod 644 body_0.bs
rm -f blib/arch/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.so
cc -shared -O2 -g -L/usr/local/lib -fstack-protector body_0.o scanner1.o
scanner2.o scanner3.o scanner4.o scanner5.o scanner6.o -o
blib/arch/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.so \
\
chmod 755 blib/arch/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.so
cp body_0.bs blib/arch/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.bs
chmod 644 blib/arch/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.bs
Manifying blib/man3/Mail::SpamAssassin::CompiledRegexps::body_0.3pm
make install
Files found in blib/arch: installing files in blib/lib into architecture
dependent library tree
Installing
/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.010/3.003001/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.so
Installing
/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.010/3.003001/auto/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0/body_0.bs
Installing
/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.010/3.003001/Mail/SpamAssassin/CompiledRegexps/body_0.pm
Installing
/tmp/.spamassassin5628tyS9VGtmp/ignored/man/man3/Mail::SpamAssassin::CompiledRegexps::body_0.3pm
Appending installation info to
/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.010/3.003001/perllocal.pod
cp /tmp/.spamassassin5628tyS9VGtmp/bases_body_0.pl
/var/lib/spamassassin/compiled/5.010/3.003001/bases_body_0.pl
cd /
rm -rf /tmp/.spamassassin5628tyS9VGtmp
root@squeeze:~# vi /etc/apt/sources.list #replacing references to squeeze with
wheezy
root@squeeze:~# apt-get update
...
root@squeeze:~# apt-get upgrade
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
...
72 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 116 not upgraded.
Need to get 20.2 MB of archives.
After this operation, 10.1 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
...
Setting up spamassassin (3.3.2-3) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/cron.daily/spamassassin ...
Warning: The home dir /var/lib/spamassassin you specified already exists.
Adding system user `debian-spamd' (UID 102) ...
Adding new group `debian-spamd' (GID 104) ...
Adding new user `debian-spamd' (UID 102) with group `debian-spamd' ...
The home directory `/var/lib/spamassassin' already exists. Not copying from
`/etc/skel'.
adduser: Warning: The home directory `/var/lib/spamassassin' does not belong to
the user you are currently creating.
Running sa-compile (may take a long time)
SpamAssassin Mail Filter Daemon: disabled, see /etc/default/spamassassin
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature
