Ubuntu
distmp3 package

distmp3host fails to start on i386

Bug #131321 reported by PeteDonnell
6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
distmp3 (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

To reproduce, install distmp3 via apt. At this point distmp3host can be started by means of its initscript '/etc/init.d/distmp3 start'. Reboot the computer. Now distmp3host cannot be started, running 'sudo /etc/init.d/distmp3 start' or the command 'distmp3host' does nothing, returns without error or any other output (even when run with the -d debug flag), but a check of running processes via 'ps aux | grep distmp3' reveals that distmp3host is not running.

I've tested this on two i386 boxes with fairly different setups and got the same behaviour. I also have a PowerPC box which runs distmp3, but as it's acting as a live server I can't reboot it to test whether distmp3host can't be started after reboot on this architecture.

Removing distmp3 via apt and then reinstalling it seems to restart distmp3host successfully, and it can be stopped and restarted by the initscript without problem.

Revision history for this message
PeteDonnell (pete-donnell-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

The PowerPC server had to be rebooted for another reason after all, and it turns out the problem is the same, this isn't just an x86 problem. distmp3host can't be started, but if the package is removed and re-added it works fine (presumably until the next reboot).

Revision history for this message
PeteDonnell (pete-donnell-deactivatedaccount) wrote :

Just in case it helps with debugging this problem:

distmp3host starts normally after it's installed, whether it's a fresh install, or a reinstall using 'apt-get install --reinstall distmp3'. However, it doesn't start after a reboot, from '/etc/init.d/distmp3 start' or '/etc/init.d/distmp3 restart', or even from 'distmp3host' run directly from an interactive shell.

It looks from this as though something's wrong in the initscript, but the same problem isn't in the package post-install script. I've tried looking at the initscript /etc/init.d/distmp3 and what I think is the post-install script (/var/lib/dpkg/info/distmp3.postinst), but can't figure out the problem. I don't know much about initscripts or shell scripts in general so it's a bit of a mystery to me what's going on.

Just to clarify again, my original bug report was misleading, this doesn't appear to be an i386 issue at all. So far I have observed it on 3 different x86 machines and a PowerPC. Presumably other architectures are also affected.

I don't mind looking into this further as I'm sure it's quite a simple problem, but I need some idea of what to investigate.

Daniel T Chen (crimsun)
Changed in distmp3:
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Darian Anthony Patrick (darianapatrick) wrote :

This problem is a result of /var/run/distmp3 not being created at runtime as noted in this upstream report: http://lintian.debian.org/tags/dir-or-file-in-var-run.html

This issue is many releases old. Can we just submit a non-maintainer fix for this to get distmp3 functional again?

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