Backends should always report error on failure to commit

[Bram Kuijper]

Binary package hint: gnome-system-tools

I am not able to add a user using the gnome gui. I use the following version of Ubuntu.
Description: Ubuntu 9.04
Release: 9.04

1. Go to System > Administration > Users and Groups.
2. Press Unlock and type password
3. Add a new user (any name will do), but I used 'testuser1' as example.
4. Close the dialogs again.
5. Again, go to System > Administration > Users and Groups.
the previously added user has now disappeared and can only be found in the manage groups dialog. No home directory has been made, I cannot do su 'testuser1'.

If it is the case that I am not privileged to add users, despite providing my administrative passwd, it is counterintuitive that I can still fill in the dialog and presumably add a new user.

version of gnome-system-tools: 2.22.2-0ubuntu4

As an attachment I have uploaded a screenshot video to clarify things.

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Thanks for the detailed report. Could you run 'sudo killall system-tools-backends; sudo /usr/bin/system-tools-bakends -nd' providing your password when required, and then reproduce the procedure listed in your report, and paste the messages printed on the screen here? That could be very helpful to me.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Confirmed in Karmic.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: gnome-system-tools 2.28.0-0ubuntu1
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-12.40-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-12-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
XsessionErrors:
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2178): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (gnome-settings-daemon:2178): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_propagate_error: assertion `src != NULL' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:2271): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed
 (nautilus:2268): Eel-CRITICAL **: eel_preferences_get_boolean: assertion `preferences_is_initialized ()' failed

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

David: I'd have preferred you report a separate bug. There's absolutely no guarantee you're experiencing the same bug, especially since error reporting has been improved in the last version, hence the symptoms must be different. But let's go on, since the original reporter has not answered for a long time.

First, it seems very weird to me that you're not getting any error message, because we're checking for that in 2.28.0. Please run
sudo killall /usr/bin/perl; sudo /usr/share/system-tools-backends-2.0/scripts/SystemToolsBackends.pl -m UsersConfig -v
and without stopping that process, run 'users-admin' in another terminal, reproduce the problem, and post both outputs here. Thanks!

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

If that aids debugging, command "LANG=C sudo adduser test28" fails with:

Adding user `test28' ...
Adding new group `test28' (1004) ...
Adding new user `test28' (1001) with group `test28' ...
useradd: cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later.
adduser: `/usr/sbin/useradd -d /home/test28 -g test28 -s /bin/bash -u 1001 test28' returned error code 1. Exiting.

So this is probably the same issue as bug #432964, but I still think gnome shouldn't show the new user in the GUI but instead show an error message.

[David Henningsson (diwic)]

Lowering importance as I've finally found a workaround, see #432964

[Milan Bouchet-Valat (nalimilan)]

Yeah, the problem is that the backends don't always report when committing changes has failed. Most of the time things go right or get caught by the GUI, but sometimes not. That's definitely something we need.