Bug 690046 – net-misc/tigervnc: cannot start user-server when user-home is on nfs and not readable by root

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Manuel Mommertz 2019-07-17 07:13:03 UTC]

In /etc/init.d/tigervnc the checkconfig function fails if it cannot find ~user/.vnc/passwd. But this may also happen when the user doesn't allow access for other users and has his home on an nfs-server which maps root to nobody.

To fix it the test should be run as the corresponding user. Patch attached.

[Comment 1 John Helmert III 2021-02-15 05:00:48 UTC]

If this is still reproducible, I'm not sure if this would be a Gentoo problem or an upstream problem. If upstream's sources can reproduce then a bug should be filed upstream. Of course if their sources can't reproduce then please reopen this bug.

[Comment 2 Manuel Mommertz 2021-02-16 07:04:47 UTC]

Created attachment 686853 [details, diff]
Fix tigervnc initskript to work with home on nfs

[Comment 3 Manuel Mommertz 2021-02-16 07:06:31 UTC]

Seems I forgot to attach the patch... Sorry, fixed :)

The problem exists in /etc/init.d/tigervnc which is not present upstream. So no way to fix this in upstream. ;)

[Comment 4 John Helmert III 2021-02-16 17:05:04 UTC]

I'm not sure this patch works as expected, the condition always fails even if the user doesn't exist (when it should succeed when the user exists so it fails into the `if`).

~ $ runuser -l "user" -c "[ ! -f ~/.vnc/passwd ]"  || echo "false"
pass
~ $ runuser -l "notauser" -c "[ ! -f ~/.vnc/passwd ]"  || echo "false"
runuser: user notauser does not exist or the user entry does not contain all the required fields
pass

[Comment 5 John Helmert III 2021-02-16 17:06:30 UTC]

(In reply to John Helmert III (ajak) from comment #4)
> I'm not sure this patch works as expected, the condition always fails even
> if the user doesn't exist (when it should succeed when the user exists so it
> fails into the `if`).
> 
> ~ $ runuser -l "user" -c "[ ! -f ~/.vnc/passwd ]"  || echo "false"
> pass
> ~ $ runuser -l "notauser" -c "[ ! -f ~/.vnc/passwd ]"  || echo "false"
> runuser: user notauser does not exist or the user entry does not contain all
> the required fields
> pass

Well, I attempted some editing between what I ran and what I commented and made some typos, so 's/false/pass/'

[Comment 6 Manuel Mommertz 2021-02-17 06:52:45 UTC]

Created attachment 687063 [details, diff]
Fix to handle non-existing users

You are right! I moved the exclamation mark to the front. I did not redirect stderr to /dev/null, so the user gets a hint that the missing file is not the only problem with the setup. :)

[Comment 7 John Helmert III 2021-02-17 18:16:25 UTC]

(In reply to Manuel Mommertz from comment #6)
> Created attachment 687063 [details, diff] [details, diff]
> Fix to handle non-existing users
> 
> You are right! I moved the exclamation mark to the front. I did not redirect
> stderr to /dev/null, so the user gets a hint that the missing file is not
> the only problem with the setup. :)

Alright, seems to work better now. I'm working on bumping the package for a number of bugs so if you'll comment your signoff (https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0076.html#certificate-of-origin) I can include it in my bump.

[Comment 8 Manuel Mommertz 2021-02-18 06:38:26 UTC]

(In reply to John Helmert III (ajak) from comment #7)
> so if you'll comment your signoff I can include it in my bump.

You mean just here? There you go:

Signed-off-by: Manuel Mommertz <[e-mail]>

[Comment 9 John Helmert III 2021-02-19 01:42:33 UTC]

(In reply to Manuel Mommertz from comment #8)
> (In reply to John Helmert III (ajak) from comment #7)
> > so if you'll comment your signoff I can include it in my bump.
> 
> You mean just here? There you go:
> 
> Signed-off-by: Manuel Mommertz <[e-mail]>

Exactly, thank you!

[Comment 10 Larry the Git Cow 2022-04-03 10:02:39 UTC]

The bug has been closed via the following commit(s):

https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=2bda6cc82caf55afd1f0c5c213f6525cb2d2fd3d

commit 2bda6cc82caf55afd1f0c5c213f6525cb2d2fd3d
Author:     Viorel Munteanu <[e-mail]>
AuthorDate: 2022-04-02 06:48:39 +0000
Commit:     Florian Schmaus <[e-mail]>
CommitDate: 2022-04-03 09:56:23 +0000

    net-misc/tigervnc: Fix bug in init script
    
    cannot start user-server when user-home is on nfs and not readable by
    root
    
    Closes: https://bugs.gentoo.org/690046
    Signed-off-by: Manuel Mommertz <[e-mail]>
    Signed-off-by: Viorel Munteanu <[e-mail]>
    Signed-off-by: Florian Schmaus <[e-mail]>

 net-misc/tigervnc/files/tigervnc-1.12.0.initd | 3 ++-
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)