cronjob for mythtv-status send's me many mails after upgrade to jaunty

[Stefan Pappalardo]

Binary package hint: mythtv-status

Description: Ubuntu 9.04
Release: 9.04
mythtv-status:
  Installiert: 0.7.3-2ubuntu2
  Kandidat: 0.7.3-2ubuntu2
  Versions-Tabelle:
 *** 0.7.3-2ubuntu2 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com jaunty/universe Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

After upgrading to jaunty every ten minutes root becomes this electronic message:

Envelope-to: root@htpc
Delivery-date: Fri, 22 May 2009 20:00:02 +0200
From: Cron Daemon <root@htpc>
To: root@htpc
Subject: Cron <root@obelix> [ -x /etc/init.d/mythtv-status ] && /etc/init.d/mythtv-status reload > /dev/null
X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/sh>
X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/root>
X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/usr/bin:/bin>
X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=root>

mv: Aufruf von stat für „/var/run/motd.new“ nicht möglich: No such file or directory

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: mythtv-status 0.7.3-2ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_DE:de
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: mythtv-status
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic x86_64

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Googling your error message results in the following hit:
http://v2kblog.blogspot.com/2009/05/upgrading-mythbuntu-from-810-to-904.html

which suggests the following work-around. Could you back up the below mentioned files and then try this solution?

This problem was caused by two cron jobs both trying to modify /etc/motd at the same time (every 10 minutes)! The update-motd cron job moves /var/run/motd.new out from underneath the mythtv-status job. You can see the two jobs in /etc/cron.d:
# grep 10 /etc/cron.d/mythtv-status /etc/cron.d/update-motd

/etc/cron.d/mythtv-status:*/10 * * * * root [ -x /etc/init.d/mythtv-status ] && /etc/init.d/mythtv-status reload > /dev/null
/etc/cron.d/update-motd:*/10 * * * * root [ -x /usr/sbin/update-motd ] && /usr/sbin/update-motd 2>/dev/null

I believe what should really be happening is myth-status should be run by update-motd every 10 minutes instead of independently. Here is what I did to make that happen:

# rm /etc/cron.d/mythtv-status
# cd /etc/update-motd.d/
# ln -s /usr/bin/mythtv-status 50-mythtv-status

[Stefan Pappalardo (sjuk)]

I did the following...

1.) Testing if we have the same situation as in the workaround was discribed. => Yes we have.
$ grep 10 /etc/cron.d/mythtv-status /etc/cron.d/update-motd
/etc/cron.d/mythtv-status:*/10 * * * * root [ -x /etc/init.d/mythtv-status ] && /etc/init.d/mythtv-status reload > /dev/null
/etc/cron.d/update-motd:*/10 * * * * root [ -x /usr/sbin/update-motd ] && /usr/sbin/update-motd 2>/dev/null

2.) Backing up the cronjob for mythtv-status. => It is now in the userhome.
$ sudo mv /etc/cron.d/mythtv-status ~/

3.) Adding mythtv-status to update-motd. => Workaround is in place.
$ cd /etc/update-motd.d/
$ sudo ln -s /usr/bin/mythtv-status 50-mythtv-status

4.) Activating the changes for cron. => Workaround is activated.
$ sudo /etc/init.d/cron restart

5.) Testing if Workaround does its job. => mythtv-status isn't in the crontable anymore.
$ grep 10 /etc/cron.d/mythtv-status /etc/cron.d/update-motd
grep: /etc/cron.d/mythtv-status: No such file or directory
      /etc/cron.d/update-motd:*/10 * * * * root [ -x /usr/sbin/update-motd ] && /usr/sbin/update-motd 2>/dev/null

6.) Waiting for ten minutes getting an E-Mail.
=> No E-Mail.

7.) Testing if mythtv-status does its job by "ssh mythbuntu-machine".
=> Everything all right.

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Thank you for verifying the fix.

[Mario Limonciello (superm1)]

It sounds like a good packaged workaround then might be to set up
mythtv-status to run every 11 minutes instead if it's common for other apps
to register on the 10 minute mark. How many would think to go on the 11 min
;)

2009/5/23 MarcRandolph <email address hidden>

> Thank you for verifying the fix.
>
> ** Changed in: mythbuntu
> Status: Confirmed => Triaged
>
> --
> cronjob for mythtv-status send's me many mails after upgrade to jaunty
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/379500
> You received this bug notification because you are a member of Mythbuntu
> Developers, which is subscribed to Mythbuntu.
>

--
Mario Limonciello
<email address hidden>

[Stefan Pappalardo (sjuk)]

Hello Mario,

It's a joke? Isn't it? Not that it is a good idea separating cronjobs by time to give a system more balance.
But I think most users prefer a fix, not a workaround.

If I got you wrong, please take my apalogize and forget my comment.

[Andrew Ruthven (andrew-etc)]

Hi,

As the mythtv-status author, my preferred solution is to have mythtv-status run via update-motd.

Just symlink'ing /usr/bin/mythtv-status into /etc/update-motd.d/ isn't the best solution - you won't pick up the configuration settings.

However, the next version of mythtv-status will use a stand along config file which it tries to load, and that'll allow a much cleaner solution to this.

In the meantime, the work around that Stefan gives is probably better (no need to restart cron though). Also, the latest version of mythtv-status (not in Ubuntu yet) checks if motd.new exists before it tries to move it in an attempt to reduce the race condition that is being hit.

Cheers!

[MarcRandolph (mrand)]

Thanks for the discussion and status update, Andrew!

[tedder (launchpad-perljam)]

I can confirm this in my upgrade too, and Andrew, thanks for working on it.

[Will (will-berriss)]

Rather than symlinking and not getting the config changes (e.g. $HOST, $EMAIL) why not just do the following:

cd /etc/cron.d/update-motd.d/
mv ../cron.daily/mythtv-status .

This way you'd get it to source the config, i.e. it does this . /etc/default/mythtv-status

Or rather you would if this method of mine worked, but it doesn't. :(

Oh well, shame, cos I'd like the email and host config to be used.

Should I just hard code these into /usr/bin/mythtv-status?

[Stefan Pappalardo (sjuk)]

For me an upgrade to karmic solved the Problem.

[Mario Limonciello (superm1)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, I am closing it because the bug has been fixed in the latest stable version of Ubuntu - Karmic Koala. It won't be fixed in previous versions of Ubuntu because the package doesn't fit the requirements for backporting. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports for more information.