[Neurodebian-devel] condor fails to install if condor user already exists

[Michael Hanke]

severity 684463 normal
tag 684463 - wontfix
thanks

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 12:28:17PM +0200, Tiziano Zito wrote:
> > If you see a way that is both secure and satisfies your needs, please
> > let me know. Otherwise, I think Evgeni is right: move 'condor' out of
> > LDAP and solve email issues with alternative means.
> 
> I think that in condor.postinst the call to adduser should be
> followed by a check: 
> 
> 1. if adduser failed, i.e. there is already a
>    condor user and it is not a "system" account, then prompt the user
>    to ask if they really want to use the existing account.
> 1a. if they want to use it, everything is fine
> 1b. if not, fail

This seems good at first glance. However, it is a bit tricky to
implement, because of the way the debconf interface works. Essentially
the postinst script (with the failing adduser call) runs last and it seems
quite cumbersome to implement what you suggesti, as it would need to be
done in the config script.

Maybe it could be:

1. Add a low-priority debconf question whether to use a non-system account
   named 'condor' if one is available.

   [I18N won't be happy about adding a template so late in the release
    cycle and I'm not sure whether we can get such change into the
    frozen wheezy]

2. Check the choice from (1) if adduser --system fails in the postinst
   and act accordingly.


However, it would be much nicer if we could find a way to deal with this
scenario without having to use debconf. Maybe we could try to check the
validity of the requirements: there is a 'condor' user and it can't be
used to log in. If there is a reliable way to verify this in the case
that adduser --system fails (and the user comes from LDAP, or whatever
other possible auth method), we could maybe issue a warning message and
proceed without manual approval. Opinions?


> > For now I am downgrading this bug to 'wishlist' and tag it with
> > 'wontfix' until a more viable solution is found.
> 
> Well, I think that "wishlist" is a bit unfair, given that it breaks on
> upgrade and makes it impossible to use the debian package on a
> cluster where other condor clients are not debian systems and use
> the valid configuration of sharing home with NFS and non-system
> condor account.

;-) you're arguments are valid, so let it be a 'normal' bug that needs
fixing...

Michael

-- 
Michael Hanke
http://mih.voxindeserto.de