initctl scripts report "unknown job" on rpcbind and ypbind

[Thomas Mack]

root@u14:/etc/init# lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS
Release: 14.04
root@u14:/etc/init#

root@u14:/etc/init# apt-cache policy upstart
upstart:
  Installed: 1.12.1-0ubuntu4
  Candidate: 1.12.1-0ubuntu4
  Version table:
 *** 1.12.1-0ubuntu4 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
root@u14:/etc/init#

root@u14:/etc/init# apt-cache policy nis
nis:
  Installed: 3.17-32ubuntu6
  Candidate: 3.17-32ubuntu6
  Version table:
 *** 3.17-32ubuntu6 0
        500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
root@u14:/etc/init#

3) On some fresh installations of Ubuntu 14.04, nis was post-installed via apt-get install nis.

On some installations, the installation notes a failure to start rpcbind, ypbind, ypserv during the installation process. On other installations, these processes start correctly.

Trying to use initctl scripts for these processes (after reboot) fails, e.g.:

root@u14:/etc/init# status ypbind
status: Unknown job: ypbind
root@u14:/etc/init#

even though these processes get started correctly on boot normally.

init-checkconf sometimes reports the conf file as invalid. Never got an invalid syntax with -d switch used on init-checkconf though.

root@u14:/etc/init# init-checkconf /etc/init/ypbind.conf
ERROR: File /etc/init/ypbind.conf: syntax invalid:
root@u14:/etc/init#

Sometimes init-checkconf reports invalid syntax on one run and valid syntax on next run.

We did observe similar mis-behaviour after apt-get install ssh, so it seems to be a problem with upstart and not nis.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: upstart 1.12.1-0ubuntu4
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue May 27 15:04:26 2014
ExecutablePath: /sbin/upstart-udev-bridge
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-05-27 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 TERM=linux
ProcKernelCmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu--vg-root ro quiet splash
SourcePackage: upstart
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UpstartBugCategory: System
UpstartRunningSessionVersion: init (upstart 1.12.1)
UpstartRunningSystemVersion: init (upstart 1.12.1)
modified.conffile..etc.default.cups: [modified]
mtime.conffile..etc.default.cups: 2014-04-17T03:25:57

[Thomas Mack (mack3457)]

I can verify similar behaviour on a fresh 13.10 installation. An existing 12.04 LTS installation does not suffer from this.

[Thomas Mack (mack3457)]

Problem popped up when using su to change to root account.

Solution: Use sudo or su - or root user directly or unset UPSTART_SESSION environment variable.

Upstart commands should act more consistently in above case, e.g.:

root@u14:/home/ltest# init-checkconf /etc/init.d/rpcbind
ERROR: File /etc/init/rpcbind.conf: syntax invalid:
root@u14:/home/ltest# init-checkconf /etc/init.d/rpcbind
ERROR: File /etc/init/rpcbind.conf: syntax ok
root@u14:/home/ltest#

does not give a good hint on what goes wrong. Using init-checkconf -d ... does not seem to have this problem.

Similar problems with other upstart commands.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[[e-mail] (kzqdnsw4i20a5-peter)]

I've just done a fresh install of 14.04.1, and after installing nfs-common had the same problem : I couldn't start rpcbind. it's started correctly on boot, but I cannot control the service.

root@junpei:/home/peter# ps auwx | grep rpcbind | grep -v grep
root 606 0.0 0.0 23420 1116 ? Ss 11:32 0:00 rpcbind
root@junpei:/home/peter# status rpcbind
status: Unknown job: rpcbind
root@junpei:/home/peter# service rpcbind restart
stop: Unknown job: rpcbind
start: Unknown job: rpcbind

and init-checkconf behaves erratically :

root@junpei:/etc/init# init-checkconf rpcbind.conf
File rpcbind.conf: syntax ok
root@junpei:/etc/init# init-checkconf rpcbind.conf
ERROR: File rpcbind.conf: syntax invalid:
root@junpei:/etc/init# init-checkconf rpcbind.conf
File rpcbind.conf: syntax ok