[Pkg-samba-maint] Bug#1136580: Bug1136580: samba uses pidof but does not depend on procps

[Gioele Barabucci]

Control: tags -1 patch

On Thu, 14 May 2026 01:32:11 +0200 Gioele Barabucci <gioele at debian.org> 
wrote:
> it appears that samba uses `pidof` in its testsuite, or that
> at least one of its binary packages uses `pidof` at runtime.
> Historically, `pidof` was provided by the Essential package
> `sysvinit-tools`, making an explicit dependency unnecessary. However
> `pidof` will soon be moved to `procps` and will no longer be part of
> the Essential set.
> 
> Please add an explicit dependency on `procps`:
> 
> * via the `Depends:` field of all binary packages of samba
>   that use `pidof` at runtime;
> * via the `Build-Depends:` field of samba, if `pidof` is
>   used in tests run at build-time;
> * via the `Depends:` field of `debian/control/tests`, if `pidof` is
>   used in autopkgtests.
> 
> To prevent any disruption for users of samba, please add
> this dependency now, before `pidof` is moved from `sysvinit-utils` to
> `procps`. Alternatively, you could remove all uses of `pidof`.
> 
> It is believed that samba uses `pidof` due to the following
> code snippets:
> 
> ```
> path: samba_2:4.23.6+dfsg-2/ctdb/config/functions
> 	_count=1
> 	for _pid in $(pidof "$_prog"); do
> 		[ "$_count" -le "$_max" ] || break
> ```
After a quick inspection of ctdb, it seems that `pidof` is used in 
`program_stack_traces()` (in `/etc/ctbd/functions`), which, in turn, is 
used in /etc/ctdb/nfs-check.d/*.check as `service_debug_cmd`

For instance:

```
path: /etc/ctdb/nfs-checks.d/10.status.check
# status
version="1"
restart_every=2
unhealthy_after=6
service_stop_cmd="$CTDB_NFS_CALLOUT stop status"
service_start_cmd="$CTDB_NFS_CALLOUT start status"
service_debug_cmd="program_stack_traces rpc.statd 5"
```

You can find a MR that adds `procps` to CTDB's Recommends field at 
<https://salsa.debian.org/samba-team/samba/-/merge_requests/73>.

Regards,

-- 
Gioele Barabucci