Bug#862992: systemd: avoid attempt to re-create /etc/mtab by systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service

[Michael Biebl]

Control: clone -1 -2
Control: reassign -2 finish-install 2.90
Control: retitle -2 Stop using/creating /etc/mtab
Control: block -1 by -2

On Mon, 29 May 2017 21:23:28 +0200 Cyril Brulebois <kibi at debian.org> wrote:
> Michael Biebl <biebl at debian.org> (2017-05-29):
> > I think if you use debian-installer to install the system, it will
> > also create /etc/mtab (as an absolute symlink to /proc/mounts). The
> > debian.conf tmpfiles config will "correct" that on first boot to make
> > it a relative symlink.
> 
> As I said, finish-install (which runs at the very last stage of d-i) has
> this script:
> | #! /bin/sh
> | 
> | # some things inside d-i will make an /etc/mtab file, but it shouldn't
> | # be there in the installed system. Systemd will be desperately unhappy.
> | if [ -f /target/etc/mtab ]; then
> |     ln -sf /proc/self/mounts /target/etc/mtab
> | fi
> 
> so until all d-i components are checked/modified not to rely on or toy
> with /target's /etc/mtab, this code could be made to remove the
> file/link entirely when the installation is finalized.
> 
> > I guess you mean stretch, but yeah, we had this fixup rule for two
> > release cycles (via debian-fixup.service in jessie and via the
> > tmpfiles snippet in stretch). Maybe it's time to drop that in buster.
> > Should we get d-i (and FAI) updated to drop the creation of /etc/mtab
> > as well then?
> 
> d-i only gets that file into place because some of its components need
> it (or used to need it). It's technically easy to modify the code above
> to drop /target/etc/mtab instead of converting from a static file to a
> symlink.
> 
> That being said, changing this so late in the release cycle makes me a
> bit uneasy. :/

Buster development is still young, so let's get this started by creating
a bug report for finish-install.
KiBi, if you know more places where /etc/mtab is used inside the
installer, please let me know and I'll clone/reassign this bug accordingly.

Regards,
Michael


-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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