need help debugging my email in squeeze and/or testing (both) not merely old squeeze from before the release

["" <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>]

Please excuse an earlier email in HTML. I was and am still now
using the web mail system of my ISP, which I do not know, and
which has very muddled descriptions of what the various buttons 
do. I think (and sincerely hope) that I have turned off the 
'helpful' feature of automatic HTML.

I have used mutt/fetchmail/exim4 for several years without much
problem. I keep backup copies of /etc so I am confident that my exim4
configuration is the same as it was when it last worked a few days 
ago. I have looked at the config file that is causing a problem 
and it is correctly formatted (i.e. not corrupted by garbage and 
containing password data that works in other contexts). But for reasons
that are too complex to go into, I got my computer into a state where 
I needed to re-install Squeeze from scratch.  And ...

Now exim4 is unable to send email to the SMTP server that I use. It
is not something outside at my ISP because the exim4 scripts leave a 
paniclog message in /var/log/exim4, which reads as follows:

2011-02-27  09:04:28 1Ptj6i-0004BD-8e failed to expand "<; ${if
exists{/etc/exim4/passwd.client}{${lookup{$host}nwildlsearch{/e
tc/exim/passwd.client{$host_address}}}{}    }"    while   check
ing   a   list:   failed   to   open /etc/exim4/passwd.client  for  linear search: 
Permission denied (euid=102 egid=104)
2011-02-27  10:56:51 1PtkrT-0000gF-5a failed to expand "<; ${if
exists{/etc/exim4/passwd.client}
{${lookup{$host}nwildlsearch{/etc/exim4/passwd.client}{$host_address}
}}{}    }"    while   checking   a   list:   failed   to   open
/etc/exim4/passwd.client  for  linear search: Permission denied
(euid=102 egid=104)

I look at the file, /etc/exim4/passwd.client, and it contains exactly
the same bytes as it has always contained since many months ago when
I first got the setup working. It contains one line that is not a comment, 
and immediately above is a comment that specifies the required format. 

These are:
### target.mail.server.example:login:password
smtp.everyone.net:pecondon@mesanetworks.net:----------- 
(note: my password is not actually a bunch of hyphens ;-)

The paniclog message seems to indicate that there was a error parsing 
single line of data, and that the password was never transmitted to the ISP

I also tried installing the current testing (Wheezy) and found the
same problem. (i.e. same error message) I'd like to get email 
working again. I am able to receive email. The same password continues 
to work in the fetchmailrc. Of course much has been left out, so please
ask questions. Please help.

Paul
pecondon@mesanetworks.net