Ubuntu
glibc package

nscd does not create necessary directories in /var

Bug #3365 reported by Paul Roeland
44
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
glibc (Ubuntu)
Fix Released
Medium
Unassigned
Breezy
Invalid
Medium
Unassigned

Bug Description

The Breezy version of nscd (nscd_2.3.5-1ubuntu12) does not create /var/db/nscd and /var/run/nscd, causing nscd to fail relatively silently, only giving out hints in /var/log/syslog.

This bug was fixed on the source glibc package in Debian Sid, but apparently did not make it into Breezy.

Manually creating the directories and restarting /etc/init.d/nscd is a workaround fix for now.

Revision history for this message
Evgeny Stambulchik (fnevgeny) wrote :

Also, see http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/show_bug.cgi?id=18343

Revision history for this message
Herbert Straub (herbert) wrote :

Nscd needs under all circumstances the /var/run/nscd directory. After the installation under Breezy the startup writes no errors, but no nscd process exists. The syslog.log containing:

/var/run/nscd/nscd.pid: No such file or directory
/var/run/nscd/socket: No such file or directory

and some other errors with the persitent database in /var/db/nscd, but this is not really required. After

mkdir /var/run/nscd and /etc/init.d/nscd start the process is up and running. I searched the source and find this definition in ./glibc-2.3.5/nscd/nscd-client.h

#define _PATH_NSCDPID "/var/run/nscd/nscd.pid"

I think the postinstallation process should create this directory.

Revision history for this message
Jean Christophe André (progfou) wrote :

This bug has been corrected in Debian "Sid", see http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=314892 and http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=323487

Please consider merging up to Debian revision 2.3.5-4 since the only way to use nscd on Ubuntu right now is to do this:
- sudo aptitude install nscd
- sudo mkdir -p /var/run/nscd /var/db/nscd
- sudo /etc/init.d/nscd restart

Revision history for this message
Yann Rouillard (yann-pleiades) wrote :

debian package solved by just adding a debian/debhelper.in/nscd.dirs file containing:
var/run/nscd
var/db/nscd

Under ubuntu this will work for /var/db but not for /var/run as this directory is mounted on tmpfs and so recreated empty after each reboot.

Changed in glibc:
status: Unconfirmed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Yann Rouillard (yann-pleiades) wrote :

why don't you apply the patch proposed in bug https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/glibc/+bug/4641 ?

Revision history for this message
Scott Henson (scotth) wrote :

I would really like to see that patch applied. Please!!!

Actually I would have it make /var/db/nscd in the postinst and /var/run/nscd in the init script like the patch submitter does. Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Adam Conrad (adconrad) wrote :

Fixed in 2.3.6-0ubuntu17

Changed in glibc:
status: Confirmed → Fix Released
Revision history for this message
Adam Conrad (adconrad) wrote :

This will not be fixed in breezy, the changes aren't really critical enough.

Changed in glibc:
status: Unconfirmed → Rejected
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