Debian Bug report logs - #776171
systemd fails to reboot with "Transaction is destructive"

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

From: Ben Longbons <brlongbons@gmail.com>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: systemd fails to reboot with "Transaction is destructive"

Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 15:45:55 -0800

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

Package: systemd
Version: 215-8
Severity: important

Dear Maintainer,

I have been running my laptop for > 100 days without reboot, only
suspend. Today when I unsuspended, networking was broken again, so I
tried "systemctl restart networking network-manager" which usually works,
although sometimes I have to "ifdown eth0" or "ifup eth0" manually.

This hung with systemd-tty-ask-password-agent running (similar to
#774153), so I decided to reboot.

I successfully closed X, but `shutdown -r now` gave a message like
"failed to start reboot.service, transaction is destructive". Pressing
ctrl-alt-del had no effect at all. I then tried magic sysrq REISUB,
but since this is a laptop the keyboard version doesn't work, so I wrote
to /proc/sysrq-trigger, but I forgot that after the E I wouldn't have a
shell anymore. At this point, the system suspended and I then resumed
it, thinking it was a shutdown. At this point, systemd started a loop
with a message something like "start failed too soon, throttling exec".

At this point, pressing ctrl-alt-del got the "transaction is
destructive" message. Other ttys still had login prompts, so I tried
logging in there, but they died right after the "you have no new mail"
message. At that point, I had no way to request anything from software,
so I held down the power button.

I then booted the system, unbroke networking again, and filed this bug.

The above is all from memory, the below is what the logs say.

journalctl --list-boots only has an entry for after the most recent boot,
so it doesn't have any record from the problem period.

/var/log/syslog.1 has some useful info. Apparently "Looping too fast.
Throttling execution a little." occured once per second for several
hours yesterday.

The log contains several instances of "
Requested transaction contradicts existing jobs: Transaction is destructive.
Failed to enqueue ctrl-alt-del.target job: Transaction is destructive.
" but no record of "reboot.service" or "networking.service"/"network-manager.service".


Despite the plethora of contextual data in this bug, I intend that the
bug itself only applies to the fact that systemd is able to fail
"reboot.service" or "ctrl-alt-del.service". While during a shutdown it
would be *nice* to kill everything nicely, if that fails systemd should,
at minimum, actually reboot (including, especially, syncing the hard
drive).


-- Package-specific info:

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.0
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (600, 'testing'), (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386, powerpc, arm64, armhf

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/4 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 systemd depends on:
ii  acl             2.2.52-2
ii  adduser         3.113+nmu3
ii  initscripts     2.88dsf-58
ii  libacl1         2.2.52-2
ii  libaudit1       1:2.4-1+b1
ii  libblkid1       2.25.2-4
ii  libc6           2.19-13
ii  libcap2         1:2.24-6
ii  libcap2-bin     1:2.24-6
ii  libcryptsetup4  2:1.6.6-4
ii  libgcrypt20     1.6.2-4+b1
ii  libkmod2        18-3
ii  liblzma5        5.1.1alpha+20120614-2+b3
ii  libpam0g        1.1.8-3.1
ii  libselinux1     2.3-2
ii  libsystemd0     215-8
ii  mount           2.25.2-4
ii  sysv-rc         2.88dsf-58
ii  udev            215-8
ii  util-linux      2.25.2-4

Versions of packages systemd recommends:
ii  dbus            1.8.12-3
ii  libpam-systemd  215-8

Versions of packages systemd suggests:
pn  systemd-ui  <none>

-- no debconf information

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Message #10 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "M." <infinity.probability@gmail.com>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Same problem

Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2015 10:29:42 -0300

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I'm running Debian Sid and have exactly the same problem: issuing a sudo
shutdown -r now gives me the error


Failed to start reboot.target: Transaction is destructive.

The system is going down for reboot NOW!

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Message #15 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "M." <infinity.probability@gmail.com>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: same problem

Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 22:34:29 -0300

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Having exactly the same problem:

sudo shutdown -h
now

Failed to start poweroff.target: Transaction is destructive.

Broadcast message from iser@endeavor on pts/1 (Ter 2015-09-01 22:28:39 BRT):

The system is going down for power-off NOW!


sudo shutdown -r
now

Failed to start reboot.target: Transaction is destructive.

Broadcast message from iser@endeavor on pts/1 (Ter 2015-09-01 22:33:16 BRT):

The system is going down for reboot NOW!

Nothing but opening the notebook lid and pressing the power button for 4
seconds shutdowns the system.

Cheers

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Message #20 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Ulrich Fürst <Fuerst.Ulrich@web.de>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: systemd fails to reboot with "Transaction is destructive"

Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2015 16:23:42 +0200

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Dear maintainer, dear users,

I had the same issue today. 
I could reboot by killing PID 1 (which was the one from systemd).
After that I could make a shutdown. 

My system is debian stable 8.2 with all updates running on a Asus
laptop. 

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Message #25 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Vincent Bernat <bernat@debian.org>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#776171: same problem

Date: Thu, 25 Feb 2016 10:26:50 +0100

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 ❦  1 septembre 2015 23:34 -0300, "M." <infinity.probability@gmail.com> :

> Having exactly the same problem:
>
> sudo shutdown -h now 
> Failed to start poweroff.target: Transaction is destructive.

Same problem here. Any poweroff, reboot, suspend targets answer with the
same message. Absolutely no clue how to debug this...
-- 
I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less
than half of you half as well as you deserve.
		-- J. R. R. Tolkien

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Message #30 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Thomas Vaughan <tevaughan@gmail.com>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: I See This Problem on Dell Latitude E6530 Laptop When Docked

Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2016 16:20:45 -0600

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When my laptop is docked and the lid closed, I see this problem: It is
impossible for me to shutdown (without holding the power button until power
is suddenly withdrawn from the system).

Running Debian sid with systemd-229-2.

When docked, my machine uses the NVIDIA kernel driver built via dkms.

I have no problem shutting down when either I leave the lid open on the
docking station or when the machine is undocked.

-- 
Thomas E. Vaughan

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Message #35 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Pavel Mendl <pavel_mendl@centrum.cz>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: same problem on desktop

Date: Sat, 09 Jul 2016 22:59:17 +0200

I am experiencing this problem over multiple months (maybe a year) already. I 
hoped it will get soon fixed via standard package upgrades, but as it still 
persist and is really annoying I googled around and now send this message in 
hope to increase priority a bit ;).

In my case there are several facts I would like to share:
1) Plane desktop, no lid, no auto sleeping in setup. this particular Debian 
instalation worked without this issue for many years before. Only standard 
aptitude updates done under manual control, no dist-upgrade/updates.
2) As I do have auto-logging user (myself :) ) in KDE, if I choose reboot it 
simply relogs back to deskotp.
3) I do use only sleep (now called suspend to ram) via KDE kicker's Leave-
>suspend menu. Never experienced problems with waking up.
4) Workaround with sudo reboot -f works allways, however often I am getting 
some file reparations/removals reported on next boot. As I reboot often on 
dual-boot system, this scares me a bit.
5) Sometimes (about 1/4 cases) reboot works normally from KDE.

uname -a
Linux <censored> 4.6.0-1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.6.2-2 (2016-06-25) x86_64 
GNU/Linux

Pavel Mendl

Message #40 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Michael Biebl <biebl@debian.org>

To: Vincent Bernat <bernat@debian.org>, 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#776171: same problem

Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2016 15:36:57 +0200

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Control: tags -1 + moreinfo

Hi

Am 25.02.2016 um 10:26 schrieb Vincent Bernat:
> 
> Same problem here. Any poweroff, reboot, suspend targets answer with the
> same message. Absolutely no clue how to debug this...

Which systemd version do you use? Is this problem reproducible (on a
current sid system)?


-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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Message #47 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Vincent Bernat <bernat@debian.org>

To: Michael Biebl <biebl@debian.org>

Cc: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#776171: same problem

Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2016 16:17:35 +0200

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 ❦ 10 juillet 2016 15:36 CEST, Michael Biebl <biebl@debian.org> :

>> Same problem here. Any poweroff, reboot, suspend targets answer with the
>> same message. Absolutely no clue how to debug this...
>
> Which systemd version do you use? Is this problem reproducible (on a
> current sid system)?

Hi!

For me, it was on an up-to-date sid system (updated almost daily). It
was the first time and it didn't occur a second time (either because of
more recent versions of systemd were running or because it occurs
rarely, dunno).
-- 
Use the fundamental control flow constructs.
            - The Elements of Programming Style (Kernighan & Plauger)

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Message #52 received at 776171@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Thomas Vaughan <tevaughan@gmail.com>

To: 776171@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#776171: same problem

Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2016 15:05:34 -0600

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On Sun, 10 Jul 2016 15:36:57 +0200 Michael Biebl <biebl@debian.org> wrote:
> Control: tags -1 + moreinfo
>
> Hi
>
> Am 25.02.2016 um 10:26 schrieb Vincent Bernat:
> >
> > Same problem here. Any poweroff, reboot, suspend targets answer with the
> > same message. Absolutely no clue how to debug this...
>
> Which systemd version do you use? Is this problem reproducible (on a
> current sid system)?

​I am seeing this "transaction is destructive" message still whenever,
after starting up my laptop docked, I try to do a shutdown.

When docked with lid closed, the machine is incapable of shutting down
normally.  If I log in as root and type 'poweroff', that's when I see
"transaction is destructive".

I run Debian sid, updated daily.

I think that this problem has existed for me ever since the forced
transition to systemd months and months ago.

This problem has tempted me to look at Devuan, but I have so far been too
lazy.

My work-around is to leave my laptop lid open when it is docked. However, I
don't like this because
(a) my keyboard grows needlessly ever dirtier with dust over the months, and
(b) the backlight is on and generates extra heat that I'd rather not inject
into my already-too-hot office.​

​Please help.​

​(I am using the stock '/etc/systemd/logind.conf'.​ I have tried mucking
with the various lid-switch settings, but nothing seems to work.)

​My machine is a Latitude E6530 with both Nvidia and Intel via Optimus.
When docked, I am using the proprietary Nvidia drivers via dkms.

Both Intel and Nvidia drivers are installed, and I manually switch between
them via the update-glx command when I transition between docked and
undocked configuration.

--
​Thomas E. Vaughan
tevaughan@gmail.com​

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