Overflow in author stanza produces weird output in initctl status; hints at data corruption with upstart / dbus

[gcooper]

Overflowing the author stanza causes weird output from initctl status, which hints at a memory corruption issue, potentially with DBUS. See the typescript for more info; note that job `4913' isn't a real job.

This typescript was taken after I moved the file into /etc/init/jobs.d, but I didn't start the file.

I can however start the mystery 4913 job, but until I kill the job and run initctl reload, the change isn't seen:

[comet-k5-12:~]$ status 4913
4913 running
[comet-k5-12:~]$ stop 4913
[comet-k5-12:~]$ stop 4913
stop: Unable to stop job: Unknown instance:
[comet-k5-12:~]$ status 4913
4913 not running
[comet-k5-12:~]$ start 4913
[comet-k5-12:~]$ status 4913
4913 running
[comet-k5-12:~]$ initctl reload
[comet-k5-12:~]$ status 4913
4913 running
[comet-k5-12:~]$ stop 4913
[comet-k5-12:~]$ initctl reload
[comet-k5-12:~]$ status 4913
[comet-k5-12:~]$ status
console_5foutput not running
eiclid not running
novainit not running
slproc not running
messagebus running
river_5fserver running
autostartnova not running
ha_5fmgr not running
psd not running
rc4 not running
smand not running
control_2dalt_2ddelete not running
rc5 not running
urhd not running
btrace_5frotate not running
rc6 not running
hmand not running
ioucon not running
rc0 not running
rc1 not running
rcS not running
novastart not running
rc_2ddefault not running
rc2 not running
qauthJob not running
rc3 not running
novastop not running
sulogin not running
novastatus not running
author_5fpos1 running
dnsprovider not running
iosd not running
agetty running
disable_5finterfaces not running
eicored not running
ffm not running
iifd not running
plogd not running
rcS_2dsulogin not running
[comet-k5-12:~]$ dbus-daemon --version
D-Bus Message Bus Daemon 1.2.1
Copyright (C) 2002, 2003 Red Hat, Inc., CodeFactory AB, and others
This is free software; see the source for copying conditions.
There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
[comet-k5-12:~]$ init --version
init (upstart 0.5.0)
Copyright (C) 2008 Canonical Ltd.

This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

I can't see what you believe to be the corruption?

If you're talking about the strange 4913 job, that's a file that vim likes to create when you edit a file in that directory - sometimes Upstart parses it as valid, and it appears for a while in the job list.

The only way around that is to use some kind of file extension, which I've so far resisted.

[gcooper (yanegomi-deactivatedaccount)]

Ok -- I'll explore this issue a bit further to check and see whether or not it's truly valid.

Thanks for the feedback :).

[Scott James Remnant (Canonical) (canonical-scott)]

Going to mark this one as Invalid ;)