Bug#856429: open-vm-tools: vgauth.service Unit File is Missing VGAuthService Option -s

[Ron Lovell]

Package: open-vm-tools
Version: 2:10.1.5-5055683-1
Severity: normal
Tags: newcomer

Dear Maintainer,

* What led up to the situation?
After a recent update added the vgauth.service unit file, I checked
the status of vgauthd.service. While it apparently starts, I noticed
there was no logging to /var/log/vmware-vgauthsvc.log.0. Comparing
the setup to my Rawhide and Tumbleweed installations,
I noticed that unlike Rawhide and Tumbleweed, Debian's
/lib/systemd/system/vgauth.service does not use the -s option to
VGAuthService. According to the program's help info, -s causes
it to run in daemon mode. Note that the current Debian setup is
consistent with the sample unit file provided in BUG#855337, which
also omits the -s option.

* What exactly did you do (or not do) that was effective (or
ineffective)?
I modified /lib/systemd/system/vgauth.service to add the -s option
on the ExecStart line: ExecStart=/usr/bin/VGAuthService -s

* What was the outcome of this action?
The service starts, and (significantly) it logs to
/var/log/vmware-vgauthsvc.log.0.

* What outcome did you expect instead?
The workaround was as expected.

NOTE: I'm afraid I don't have a vSphere setup to test how the vgauth
service is working. It is possible that without the -s option, the
service won't work. It is also possible that the omission was for a
good reason that I don't know about.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.0
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages open-vm-tools depends on:
ii init-system-helpers 1.47
ii libc6 2.24-9
ii libdumbnet1 1.12-7+b1
ii libfuse2 2.9.7-1
ii libgcc1 1:6.3.0-8
ii libglib2.0-0 2.50.3-1
ii libicu57 57.1-5
ii libmspack0 0.5-1
ii libprocps6 2:3.3.12-3
ii libssl1.0.2 1.0.2k-1
ii libstdc++6 6.3.0-8
ii libxerces-c3.1 3.1.4+debian-2
ii libxml-security-c17v5 1.7.3-4
ii pciutils 1:3.5.2-1

Versions of packages open-vm-tools recommends:
ii ethtool 1:4.8-1
ii fuse 2.9.7-1
ii lsb-release 9.20161125
ii zerofree 1.0.4-1

Versions of packages open-vm-tools suggests:
ii open-vm-tools-desktop 2:10.1.5-5055683-1

-- Configuration Files:
/etc/vmware-tools/tools.conf changed:
[The file is empty, as shipped.]

-- no debconf information

[Bernd Zeimetz]

Hi,

> * What led up to the situation?
> After a recent update added the vgauth.service unit file, I checked
> the status of vgauthd.service. While it apparently starts, I noticed
> there was no logging to /var/log/vmware-vgauthsvc.log.0. Comparing
> the setup to my Rawhide and Tumbleweed installations,
> I noticed that unlike Rawhide and Tumbleweed, Debian's
> /lib/systemd/system/vgauth.service does not use the -s option to
> VGAuthService. According to the program's help info, -s causes
> it to run in daemon mode. Note that the current Debian setup is
> consistent with the sample unit file provided in BUG#855337, which
> also omits the -s option.

with systemd you should use journalctl -u vgauth.service.

It might be necessary to add -s in the init script, though - for those
who don't use systemd.


Cheers,

Bernd

--
Bernd Zeimetz Debian GNU/Linux Developer
http://bzed.de http://www.debian.org
GPG Fingerprint: ECA1 E3F2 8E11 2432 D485 DD95 EB36 171A 6FF9 435F