ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

[Rob van der Walle]

Hi,

I would like to refer to the following issue created at github.com:

https://github.com/networkupstools/nut/issues/2806#issuecomment-2717288620

ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Failed to open '/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf': No such file or directory

fopen /run/nut/upsmon.pid: No such file or directory

Could not find PID file to see if previous upsmon instance is already

Ubuntu 24.04:
nut-client: 2.8.1-3.1ubuntu2

Running systemclt status nut-client show the following:

nut-monitor.service - Network UPS Tools - power device monitor and shutdown controller
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/nut-monitor.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
Active: active (running) since Tue 2025-02-18 10:30:10 CET; 3min 9s ago
Process: 21868 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 21869 (upsmon)
Tasks: 2 (limit: 9130)
Memory: 840.0K (peak: 1.1M)
CPU: 31ms
CGroup: /system.slice/nut-monitor.service
├─21869 /lib/nut/upsmon -F
└─21871 /lib/nut/upsmon -F

Feb 18 10:30:10 systemd[1]: Starting nut-monitor.service - Network UPS Tools - power device monitor and shutdown controller...
Feb 18 10:30:10 systemd-tmpfiles[21868]: Failed to open '/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf': No such file or directory
Feb 18 10:30:10 systemd[1]: Started nut-monitor.service - Network UPS Tools - power device monitor and shutdown controller.
Feb 18 10:30:10 nut-monitor[21869]: fopen /run/nut/upsmon.pid: No such file or directory
Feb 18 10:30:10 nut-monitor[21869]: Could not find PID file to see if previous upsmon instance is already running!
Feb 18 10:30:10 nut-monitor[21869]: UPS: @ (secondary) (power value 1)
Feb 18 10:30:10 nut-monitor[21869]: Using power down flag file /etc/killpower
Feb 18 10:30:10 nut-monitor[21871]: Init SSL without certificate database
Feb 18 10:30:10 nut-monitor[21871]: upsnotify: failed to notify about state 2: no notification tech defined, will not spam more about it

Kind Regards,

Rob

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

# dpkg -S /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf
nut-server: /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/nut-common-tmpfiles.conf

If nut itself (or nut-client + nut-server) is installed this behavior does not occur. I was able to reproduce it by uninstalling nut-server, which removes the file. I believe installing only nut-client will result in the same behavior as well.

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Btw, I don't see this reported in Debian, however it looks like the only change Ubuntu carries for the package is to a test case, so this issue probably does affect them as well.

[Rob van der Walle (diktio)]

status: Unknown → Fix Released

What does it mean? Is it fixed in a new release ?

---

installing only nut-client, I can confirm that only the nut-client is installed.

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I don't see this reported in Debian

I am unfamiliar with reporting bugs in Debian, Do you want me to try to report it in Debian also? How can I do that?

---

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

Hi Rob,

> What does it mean? Is it fixed in a new release ?

No, not exactly. In Launchpad a bug report can have multiple "bug tasks", and in this case I added one to link to the upstream bug report that you had filed to register it here for reference. That upstream bug report was closed as "solved" because you filed the bug with us. So that particular task is considered finished.

> I am unfamiliar with reporting bugs in Debian, Do you want me to try to report it in Debian also? How can I do that?

If you'd like, yes that would help move things forward. Directions are at https://www.debian.org/Bugs/Reporting - however since this appears to be reproducible on our end, if you're not comfortable doing that we would be able to ourselves.

To explain a bit more, the particular challenge for solving this bug, in my opinion, is that the mechanics that the nut-server package does to install this file might need to be broken out as some sort of shared package, as was suggested by upstream in your referenced link. That might be a bit more complicated than something suitable for doing on the Ubuntu side alone, so I think we'd need to be in consultation with Debian in order to ensure a solution is arrived at that they could share with us. So having a bug report opened with them would be the first step towards achieving that. For example, they might prefer rather than taking this approach, to improve documentation and to make the client require installation of the server.

---

If you'd like something you can work on to help make progress with this issue, here are two things that would help:

1. Write up an explanation of how this *impacts* you. I.e. did it only cause confusion, or did it disrupt a production system, or did it break an upgrade, or... About a paragraph of well-phrased text would help communicate what impact is. In particular, we will want to understand the likelihood of this issue affecting other many users, or just corner cases.

2. Help improve the steps to reproduce this issue on a clean system. Ultimately we'll need a paint-by-number set of steps. (Extra credit for reproducing it in a Debian VM.)

In order to get this fix released to Ubuntu 24.04 users, we'll be following the "SRU Process" outlined at https://documentation.ubuntu.com/sru/en/latest/reference/requirements/. Again, since it appears possible for us to reproduce this on our end, we can take care of all that, but any parts you help with will most likely accelerate things.

Btw thanks for following up!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.