Debian Bug report logs - #1021496
anacron: cron.daily stopped executing a month ago

Package: anacron; Maintainer for anacron is Lance Lin <lq27267@gmail.com>; Source for anacron is src:anacron (PTS, buildd, popcon).

Reported by: Ralf Jung <post@ralfj.de>

Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2022 16:21:02 UTC

Severity: important

Merged with 1019554, 1020966

Found in version anacron/2.3-34

Fixed in version 2.3-35

Done: Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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Report forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>:
Bug#1021496; Package anacron. (Sun, 09 Oct 2022 16:21:05 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Acknowledgement sent to Ralf Jung <post@ralfj.de>:
New Bug report received and forwarded. Copy sent to Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>. (Sun, 09 Oct 2022 16:21:05 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

Package: anacron
Version: 2.3-35
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

I just realized that my cron.daily jobs stopped being executed about a month ago.
'sudo journalctl | grep cron.daily' shows

Sep 04 14:28:19 r-thinktop anacron[12633]: Job `cron.daily' started
Sep 04 14:28:19 r-thinktop anacron[13691]: Updated timestamp for job `cron.daily' to 2022-09-04
Sep 04 14:28:20 r-thinktop anacron[12633]: Job `cron.daily' terminated
Sep 05 09:59:36 r-thinktop anacron[34905]: Will run job `cron.daily' in 5 min.
Sep 05 10:04:36 r-thinktop anacron[34905]: Job `cron.daily' started
Sep 05 10:04:36 r-thinktop anacron[36056]: Updated timestamp for job `cron.daily' to 2022-09-05
Sep 05 10:04:37 r-thinktop anacron[34905]: Job `cron.daily' terminated
Sep 06 09:24:00 r-thinktop anacron[40089]: Will run job `cron.daily' in 5 min.
Sep 06 09:29:00 r-thinktop anacron[40089]: Job `cron.daily' started
Sep 06 09:29:00 r-thinktop anacron[40715]: Updated timestamp for job `cron.daily' to 2022-09-06
Sep 06 09:29:01 r-thinktop anacron[40089]: Job `cron.daily' terminated
Sep 07 09:46:33 r-thinktop anacron[54913]: Will run job `cron.daily' in 5 min.
Sep 07 09:51:33 r-thinktop anacron[54913]: Job `cron.daily' started
Sep 07 09:51:33 r-thinktop anacron[55857]: Updated timestamp for job `cron.daily' to 2022-09-07
Sep 07 09:51:33 r-thinktop anacron[54913]: Job `cron.daily' terminated
Sep 08 11:38:05 r-thinktop anacron[67536]: Will run job `cron.daily' in 5 min.
Sep 08 11:43:05 r-thinktop anacron[67536]: Job `cron.daily' started
Sep 08 11:43:05 r-thinktop anacron[69218]: Updated timestamp for job `cron.daily' to 2022-09-08
Sep 08 11:43:06 r-thinktop anacron[67536]: Job `cron.daily' terminated

and then it ends.
This is a problem, since obviously many things rely on these cron jobs running regularly.
For example, one of my SSL certificates expired because of this.

Kind regards,
Ralf

-- System Information:
Debian Release: bookworm/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (500, 'testing-debug'), (100, 'unstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 5.19.0-2-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Kernel taint flags: TAINT_PROPRIETARY_MODULE, TAINT_USER, TAINT_OOT_MODULE, TAINT_UNSIGNED_MODULE
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)
LSM: AppArmor: enabled

Versions of packages anacron depends on:
ii  libc6                      2.35-1
ii  lsb-base                   11.4
ii  sysvinit-utils [lsb-base]  3.05-6

Versions of packages anacron recommends:
ii  cron [cron-daemon]  3.0pl1-149

Versions of packages anacron suggests:
ii  postfix [mail-transport-agent]  3.6.4-1+b3
ii  powermgmt-base                  1.37
ii  rsyslog [system-log-daemon]     8.2208.0-1

-- no debconf information

Marked as found in versions anacron/2.3-34. Request was from Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com> to control@bugs.debian.org. (Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:45:07 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Merged 1019554 1020966 1021496 Request was from Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com> to control@bugs.debian.org. (Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:45:07 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Information forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>:
Bug#1021496; Package anacron. (Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:51:02 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Acknowledgement sent to Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com>:
Extra info received and forwarded to list. Copy sent to Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>. (Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:51:03 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #14 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Dear Ralf,

> This is a problem, since obviously many things rely on these cron jobs running regularly.
> For example, one of my SSL certificates expired because of this.
> 

> Kind regards,
> Ralf

I have merged this bug with #1019554.

The problem was introduced in -33. I've noticed that it resulted in an incomplete cleanup on upgrade. It has been fixed in -35 but the service still doesn't start due to the cleanup.

My tested working solution is to backup existing cron files, remove anacron, manually remove the files and install the -35 version.

Specifically, I removed:
/var/lib/systemd/deb-systemd-helper-*/ ... anacron files
/var/lib/dpkg/info/anacron.* files
/var/spool/anacron
/etc/anacrontab

Sorry for the inconvenience. Please let me know if this works as it seems to fix it on my system.

Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>
GPG Fingerprint:  4A31 DB5A 1EE4 096C 8739 9880 9036 4929 4C33 F9B7

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

Information forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>:
Bug#1021496; Package anacron. (Tue, 11 Oct 2022 12:51:07 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Information forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>:
Bug#1021496; Package anacron. (Wed, 12 Oct 2022 12:18:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Acknowledgement sent to Ralf Jung <post@ralfj.de>:
Extra info received and forwarded to list. Copy sent to Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>. (Wed, 12 Oct 2022 12:18:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #24 received at 1021496@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

Dear Lance,

>> This is a problem, since obviously many things rely on these cron jobs running regularly.
>> For example, one of my SSL certificates expired because of this.
>>
> 
>> Kind regards,
>> Ralf
> 
> I have merged this bug with #1019554.
> 
> The problem was introduced in -33. I've noticed that it resulted in an incomplete cleanup on upgrade. It has been fixed in -35 but the service still doesn't start due to the cleanup.

Ah, indeed the service was 'disabled'.


> My tested working solution is to backup existing cron files, remove anacron, manually remove the files and install the -35 version.
> 
> Specifically, I removed:
> /var/lib/systemd/deb-systemd-helper-*/ ... anacron files
> /var/lib/dpkg/info/anacron.* files
> /var/spool/anacron
> /etc/anacrontab
> 
> Sorry for the inconvenience. Please let me know if this works as it seems to fix it on my system.

Uh, that sounds pretty scary. I already have the -35 installed so the buggy 
postrm should be gone. Shouldn't it be enough to manually enable and start the 
service and timer? I have done that now.

FWIW I agree with the sentiment in that bug that anacron should not touch any of 
these systemd files in its postrm or purge logic. That's what the 
init-system-helpers are for. They are very well-tested and if they leave behind 
dangling symlinks that should be brought up with them. Fixing it only for 
anacron wouldn't help other packages.

Kind regards,
Ralf

Information forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>:
Bug#1021496; Package anacron. (Thu, 20 Oct 2022 13:42:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Acknowledgement sent to Ralf Jung <post@ralfj.de>:
Extra info received and forwarded to list. Copy sent to Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>. (Thu, 20 Oct 2022 13:42:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #29 received at 1021496@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

Hi all,

FWIW, just enabling and starting both the service and the timer did solve the 
problem.

systemctl enable anacron.service anacron.timer
systemctl start anacron.service anacron.timer

; Ralf

Information forwarded to debian-bugs-dist@lists.debian.org, Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>:
Bug#1021496; Package anacron. (Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:09:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Acknowledgement sent to Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com>:
Extra info received and forwarded to list. Copy sent to Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>. (Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:09:04 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #34 received at 1021496@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Reporters,

May I report this bug (and the merged #'s) as closed?

Several people have reported the issue as fixed after enabling and starting the service.

Best,

Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>
GPG Fingerprint:  4A31 DB5A 1EE4 096C 8739 9880 9036 4929 4C33 F9B7

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

Reply sent to Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com>:
You have taken responsibility. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 12:12:28 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Notification sent to Ralf Jung <post@ralfj.de>:
Bug acknowledged by developer. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 12:12:28 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #39 received at 1021496-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Version: 2.3-35



Lance Lin <lqi254@protonmail.com>
GPG Fingerprint:  4A31 DB5A 1EE4 096C 8739 9880 9036 4929 4C33 F9B7

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

Reply sent to Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com>:
You have taken responsibility. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 12:12:29 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Notification sent to Helge Kreutzmann <debian@helgefjell.de>:
Bug acknowledged by developer. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 12:12:29 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Reply sent to Lance Lin <LQi254@protonmail.com>:
You have taken responsibility. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 12:12:30 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Notification sent to GT <grandtoubab@msn.com>:
Bug acknowledged by developer. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 12:12:30 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Message #48 received at 1020966-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Version: 2.3-35

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

Message #49 received at 1019554-done@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Version: 2.3-35

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, attachment)]

No longer marked as found in versions anacron/2.3-35. Request was from Andreas Beckmann <anbe@debian.org> to control@bugs.debian.org. (Sat, 29 Oct 2022 13:51:18 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

Bug archived. Request was from Debbugs Internal Request <owner@bugs.debian.org> to internal_control@bugs.debian.org. (Thu, 22 Dec 2022 07:27:45 GMT) (full text, mbox, link).

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Debian Bug report logs - #1021496 anacron: cron.daily stopped executing a month ago

Debian Bug report logs - #1021496
anacron: cron.daily stopped executing a month ago