pptpd module config loaded at wrong location

[Maarten Fonville]

[Impact]

 * pptpd config is ignored (module not loaded)
 * update-initramfs shows a lot of errors on evey update (e.g. on every
   kernel/dkms change)

[Test Case]

* Spawn xenial container and trigger bug
apt-get install pptpd
apt-get install linux-image-generic
  [...]
  libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-config.c:635 kmod_config_parse: /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf line 1: ignoring bad line starting with 'nf_nat_pptp'
  libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-config.c:635 kmod_config_parse: /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf line 1: ignoring bad line starting with 'nf_nat_pptp'
  [...]
update-initramfs -u
  [...]
  libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-config.c:635 kmod_config_parse: /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf line 1: ignoring bad line starting with 'nf_nat_pptp'
  libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-config.c:635 kmod_config_parse: /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf line 1: ignoring bad line starting with 'nf_nat_pptp'
  [...]
* Issue is now verified, so enable proposed and update
* https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed
apt-cache policy pptpd
  Installed: 1.4.0-7
  Candidate: 1.4.0-7ubuntu0.1
apt-get upgrade
update-initramfs -u
  (now without issues)

[Regression Potential]

 * Some guides in the internet had various workarounds to avoid the issue
   of this config being ignored. The transition path added by the fix
   worked with the workarounds I found. But there could be other solutions
   which might start to break after the update. But OTOH it should be the
   rare case of a rarely used tool - the fix will help much more users.

[Other Info]
 * now Yakkety upload in this bug as it was "already there" due to 1.4.0-9
   being merged already.

libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-config.c:635 kmod_config_parse: /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf line 1: ignoring bad line starting with 'nf_nat_pptp'

[Maarten Fonville (maarten-fonville)]

The workaround fix is: sudo mv /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf /lib/modules-load.d/

[Tiago Rinaldi (trinaldi)]

I'm also having the same problem after upgrading Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 to 16.04.

uname -a:
Linux tiago-linux 4.5.0-040500-generic #201603140130 SMP Mon Mar 14 05:32:22 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

The above workaround does work, but does it changes anything system-wide?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. I agree with Norman's assessment at https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=798774

Since this is a warning, you can safely ignore it unless you need the nf_nat_pptp module loaded. If you do need it, then Maarten's workaround should work fine. Please note that when the bug is fixed properly though, you should undo your workaround, so it's probably worth subscribing to this bug so that you know when you can do that.

Since the warning is spurious for most users and a workaround is available, I'm setting this to Importance: Medium only. We can fix this by patching Yakkety and SRU-ing Xenial, so I'll add a Xenial task.

[ironstorm (ironstorm-gmail)]

I have this same error message, /lib/modules-load.d/ doesn't exist on my system as a destination to move it to.

[Drone4four (drone4four)]

Check this out:

Bash $ locate pptpd.conf
/etc/pptpd.conf
/lib/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf
/usr/share/man/man5/pptpd.conf.5.gz
/var/lib/dpkg/info/pptpd.conffiles
/var/tmp/mkinitramfs_wjbMMF/etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf

@ironstorm, like you, my /etc/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf doesn't exist and /lib/modules-load.d/ doesn't exist either. But inside /lib/modprobe.d/ is pptd.conf . There is only one line in that configuration file which simply reads: nf_nat_pptp . So I invoked: sudo mv /lib/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf /lib/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf.bak That fixed my issue.

It’s also important to note that a few weeks ago I set up a VPN with Private Internet Access being my VPN service provider. I used a few guides but I don’t remember which one instructed me to create a pptpd.conf . For the better part of the last half hour I went on a search party through bookmarks and Chrome history for the guide, no dice. I don’t know why I created that file. But after moving the file to /lib/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf.bak , $ sudo apt-get upgrade works without the errors reported here.

[Drone4four (drone4four)]

By the way, my initial error was: libkmod: ERROR ../libkmod/libkmod-config.c:635 kmod_config_parse: /lib/modprobe.d/pptpd.conf line 1: ignoring bad line starting with 'nf_nat_pptp'

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Fixed in Yakkety already due to being fixed in >=1.4.0-8 (Yakkety is at 1.4.0-9).

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

The part of this bug as fixed in Debian via 798774.
Backport applied cleanly as-is and was working fine in verification.
Also running a while in Debian and Yakkety already which is good for "SRU ready feeling"

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thank you for the debdiff. This looks like an accurate backport to me, but the fix in Debian seems incomplete to me. dpkg-maintscript-helper also needs to be called from the postinst and the postrm, according to dpkg-maintscript-helper(1), to finish processing for all use cases.

Please could you check if there is a good reason for the call to be missing from the postinst and postrm? If not, then Debian probably needs this fixing, too.

[Robie Basak (racb)]

(and if it does need fixing, then the version it's checked against probably needs to be bumped, too)

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi - thanks for making me aware,
I analyzed it and it might have been intentional, but still it would be better to make it complete.

The reason it might have been intentional is that it woudl (accidentially) on a failed aborted/upgrade not miss to bring the config file back.
BUT - that is actually 50% or the actual fix.
So it would fix on a failed upgrade - isn't that nice :-)

Anyway as I said I think it should be complete unless there is a harder reason for it.
I'll ask the Debian Maintainers of their opinion in the thread of the old bug to be sure.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Ok, got confirmation from the Debian maintainer:

Christoph Biedl <email address hidden>

Christian Ehrhardt wrote...

> I came up with the idea it might even have been intentional so that even on
> a abort-upgrade/abort-install the bad config stays away, but I'm clearly
> not sure, so I ask you for confirmation.

Thanks for the catch, that is indeed incomplete. Will do another
upload soon, have to sort out some other issues first.

---

That is your good catch Robie!

I have a question how to go on - what are the next steps here?
a) Do we wait until the next Debian package release is available, then merge it and only then then create a new SRU?
b) or is that 4/5th partial fix "enough to be considered being in the Dev release" (See #1 at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure) and I could provide an updated/extended SRU now?

[Robie Basak (racb)]

On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 05:44:14AM -0000, ChristianEhrhardt wrote:
> I have a question how to go on - what are the next steps here?
> a) Do we wait until the next Debian package release is available, then merge it and only then then create a new SRU?
> b) or is that 4/5th partial fix "enough to be considered being in the Dev release" (See #1 at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure) and I could provide an updated/extended SRU now?

I would fix it in a very short term delta in Yakkety if necessary, then
SRU the whole thing. Or wait - depending on the urgency of the SRU.

For the SRU, it doesn't so much matter if the fix doesn't exactly match
Debian's fix, since it's a branch we have to maintain separately from
Debian anyway. For Yakkety, we'd be able to resync very soon.

As it happens, it looks like Debian have already fixed it and it is
synced to Yakkety.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Fixed the version it triggers to 1.4.0-7ubuntu0.1~ to match the recommendation of "man dpkg-maintscript-helper".
Also backported the remaining part of the fix which was now added in Debian.

New version ready for review and upload.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

In my self-review I found a stray change (Add Documentation key to systemd service file) from 1.4.0-8 in the debdiff which I removed.
Uploading v3 for review and upload.

[Robie Basak (racb)]

Thank you for the update! This needed "update-maintainer", which I ran before upload. Sorry I missed that last time.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Of course we need it since we are first time deriving from synced package - sorry I've missed that.
Thank you, waiting for it to show up in proposed for verification.

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

Hello Maarten, or anyone else affected,

Accepted pptpd into xenial-proposed. The package will build now and be available at https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/pptpd/1.4.0-7ubuntu0.1 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Maarten Fonville (maarten-fonville)]

I can confirm that the package in proposed fixes the issue.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package pptpd - 1.4.0-7ubuntu0.1

---------------
pptpd (1.4.0-7ubuntu0.1) xenial; urgency=medium

  * backport "Install the module load helper to etc/modules-load.d/"
    from 1.4.0-8 fixed via debian bug 798774 (LP: #1571295)

 -- Christian Ehrhardt <email address hidden> Tue, 19 Jul 2016 11:59:38 +0200

[Brian Murray (brian-murray)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for pptpd has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.