systemd-networkd-wait-online terminates with "Could not create manager: Invalid argument"

[Matthias Nagel]

# lsb_release -rd
No LSB modules are available.
Description: Ubuntu 23.10
Release: 23.10

# aptitude show systemd
Package: systemd
Version: 253.5-1ubuntu6
State: installed

systemd-networkd-wait-online terminates with "Could not create manager: Invalid argument".

This lets the corresponding service (systemd-networkd-wait-online.service) fail as well. The error also appears when one directly invokes /lib/systemd/systemd-networkd-wait-online from a shell.

[Matthias Nagel (nagmat84)]

Maybe related to #2040055.

[Nick Rosbrook (enr0n)]

Since you say this happens from a shell too, please provide the output of the following:

SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL=debug /usr/lib/systemd/systemd-networkd-wait-online

[Matthias Nagel (nagmat84)]

Unfortunately, it doesn't make any difference. There is no additional output

root@h2917298:~ # SYSTEMD_LOG_LEVEL=debug /lib/systemd/systemd-networkd-wait-online
Could not create manager: Invalid argument

I have already tried that before filing the bug report. Sorry, I didn't mention that in the first place.

[Matthias Nagel (nagmat84)]

Maybe it is nothing, but please note that the file path is not `/usr/lib/...` but only `/lib/...`.

The error messages comes from https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/2c87b71b00523ef2aecdd2b68e61008b7d2e5ecc/src/network/wait-online/wait-online.c#L217 (and it is similar, though a different executable for bug #2040055).

Moreover, `systemctl status` reports

● h2917298.stratoserver.net
    State: degraded
    Units: 220 loaded (incl. loaded aliases)
     Jobs: 0 queued
   Failed: 3 units
    Since: Sat 2023-10-21 15:43:27 CEST; 2 days ago
  systemd: 253.5-1ubuntu6
  Tainted: unmerged-usr:cgroupsv1

Note that the line `Tainted: unmerged-usr` is new since 23.10. (The complaint about cgroupsv1 is really old and around since 21.04.) I know from another distro, that systemd has recently started to expect that /[bin|lib|sbin] are merged with their counterparts in `/usr`. So maybe it has something to do with that, but it is really a shot in the dark.

[Matthias Nagel (nagmat84)]

FYI: I found the package `usrmerge` installed it and the directories `/[bin|sbin|lib]` directories were successfully merged with their and `/usr/[bin|sbin|lib]` counterparts. The complaint in `systemctl satus` is gone. However, it was not the solution to my problem. Hence, my shot in the dark in the previous message was a wrong one. The issue still persists.

[Nick Rosbrook (enr0n)]

cgroupsv2 has been the default for a few releases now, so it's odd that you are running cgroupsv1. Can you share /proc/cmdline? I haven't looked close enough to see if this would actually cause this error, but since this error seems odd as it is, I wouldn't be surprised.

[Matthias Nagel (nagmat84)]

root@h12345678:~ # cat /proc/cmdline
quiet
root@h12345678:~ # uname -a
Linux h12345678.my-hoster.tld 4.15.0 #1 SMP Wed Jul 12 12:00:44 MSK 2023 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Please note that my hoster uses OpenVZ with a shared kernel across guest OSes.