Bug#1133069: systemd-standalone-sysusers: Failed to read 'basic.conf': No such file or directory

[Luca Boccassi]

Control: tags -1 unreproducible

On Thu, 9 Apr 2026 19:27:49 +0100 Luca Boccassi <luca.boccassi at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:18:49 +0200 Philipp Matthias Hahn
> <pmhahn at debian.org> wrote:
> > Package: systemd-standalone-sysusers
> > Version: 260.1-1
> > Severity: important
> > X-Debbugs-Cc: debian-ssh at lists.debian.org
> >
> > Dear fellow Maintainer,
> >
> > I'm trying to install `openssh-client` inside a Docker container, which
> > depends on 'systemd | systemd-standalone-sysusers | systemd-sysusers'.
> >
> > 1. `systemd` fails to configue with
> > > Setting up systemd (260.1-1) ...
> > > Created symlink '/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/remote-fs.target' → '/usr/lib/systemd/system/remote-fs.target'.
> > > Created symlink '/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/systemd-pstore.service' → '/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-pstore.service'.
> > > Created symlink '/etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty at tty1.service' → '/usr/lib/systemd/system/getty at .service'.
> > > Failed to enable units: Protocol driver not attached.
> > > Cannot open '/etc/machine-id': Protocol driver not attached
> > > dpkg: error processing package systemd (--configure):
> > >  old systemd package postinst maintainer script subprocess failed with exit status 1
> > …
> > > dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of openssh-client:
> > >  openssh-client depends on systemd | systemd-standalone-sysusers | systemd-sysusers; however:
> > >   Package systemd is not configured yet.
> > >   Package systemd-standalone-sysusers is not installed.
> > >   Package systemd-sysusers is not installed.
> > >   Package systemd which provides systemd-sysusers is not configured yet.
> > >
> > > dpkg: error processing package openssh-client (--configure):
> > >  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
> >
> > 2. `systemd-standalone-sysusers` fails with
> > > Setting up systemd-standalone-sysusers (260.1-1) ...
> > > Failed to read 'basic.conf': No such file or directory
> > > dpkg: error processing package systemd-standalone-sysusers (--configure):
> > >  old systemd-standalone-sysusers package postinst maintainer script subprocess failed with exit status 1
> >
> > 3. With `opensysusers` providing `systemd-sysuers` it also fails with
> > > Setting up openssh-client (1:10.2p1-6) ...
> > > groupadd: invalid group ID ''
> > > chgrp: invalid group: '_ssh'
> > > dpkg: error processing package openssh-client (--configure):
> > >  old openssh-client package postinst maintainer script subprocess failed with exit status 1
> >
> >
> > This is about 2.
> > `basic.conf` is part of the package `systemd`:
> > $ dpkg -S basic.conf
> > systemd: /usr/lib/sysusers.d/basic.conf
>
> No, it's also in the standalone package:
>
> https://packages.debian.org/sid/amd64/systemd-standalone-sysusers/filelist
>
> does it get unpacked before failing? Do you see the basic.conf file on
> the filesystem?

Works fine in a minimal container, even rerunning the postinst by
hand, so this looks like a problem in your specific setup

# SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL=debug bash -x
/var/lib/dpkg/info/systemd-standalone-sysusers.postinst  configure
+ set -e
+ '[' configure = configure ']'
+ systemd-sysusers basic.conf
Loaded shared library 'libselinux.so.1' via dlopen().
Loaded shared library 'libaudit.so.1' via dlopen().
Failed to connect to audit log, ignoring: Address family not supported
by protocol
Reading config file "/usr/lib/sysusers.d/basic.conf"…
Group adm already exists.
Group tty already exists.
Group disk already exists.
Group man already exists.
Group kmem already exists.
Group dialout already exists.
Group fax already exists.
Group voice already exists.
Group cdrom already exists.
Group floppy already exists.
Group tape already exists.
Group sudo already exists.
Group audio already exists.
Group dip already exists.
Group operator already exists.
Group src already exists.
Group shadow already exists.
Group utmp already exists.
Group video already exists.
Group sasl already exists.
Group plugdev already exists.
Group staff already exists.
Group games already exists.
Group users already exists.
Group nogroup already exists.
Group lpadmin already exists.
Group root already exists.
User root already exists.
Group daemon already exists.
User daemon already exists.
Group bin already exists.
User bin already exists.
Group sys already exists.
User sys already exists.
User sync already exists.
Group games already exists.
User games already exists.
Group man already exists.
User man already exists.
Group lp already exists.
User lp already exists.
Group mail already exists.
User mail already exists.
Group news already exists.
User news already exists.
Group uucp already exists.
User uucp already exists.
Group proxy already exists.
User proxy already exists.
Group www-data already exists.
User www-data already exists.
Group backup already exists.
User backup already exists.
Group list already exists.
User list already exists.
Group irc already exists.
User irc already exists.
User _apt already exists.
User nobody already exists.
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