XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist

Package: upgrade-reports
Version: 9
Severity: grave

Followed the Debian 9 release notes to upgrade a jessie i386 (686) machine
to stretch. No apt sources except official debian ones. Following the apt-get dist-upgrade step, attempts to use apt-get, apt-cache, aptitude
produce the following error:

# apt-get update
Hit:1 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stretch-updates InRelease
Ign:2 http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch InRelease
Get:3 http://security.debian.org stretch/updates InRelease [62.9 kB]
Hit:4 http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch Release
Fetched 62.9 kB in 1s (38.2 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: flAbsPath on /var/lib/dpkg/status failed - realpath (22: Invalid
argument)
E: Could not open file - open (2: No such file or directory)
E: Problem opening
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.


Error persists after reboot of the system.

However, dpkg -l and similar still work. The /var/lib/dpkg structure
appears to be intact:

$ ls -l /var/lib/dpkg
total 6904
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 7 16:39 alternatives
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1379057 Apr 28 2015 available
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1361618 Apr 28 2015 available-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 8 Feb 20 2006 cmethopt
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 953 Jul 7 15:54 diversions
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1034 Jul 7 15:54 diversions-old
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 339968 Jul 7 16:03 info
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Jul 7 16:44 lock
-rw-r----- 1 root root 0 Feb 20 2006 methlock
drwxr-xr-x 7 root root 4096 Feb 7 2011 methods
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 May 26 2005 parts
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 460 Jul 7 16:40 statoverride
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 421 Jul 7 16:40 statoverride-old
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1961225 Jul 7 16:44 status
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1961225 Jul 7 16:44 status-old
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 7 16:43 triggers
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Jul 7 16:44 updates


I am using Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, kernel 2.2.17-pre-patch-13 and libc6
2.1.3-10.

Earlier in the week, I did a similar upgrade on another system with same hardware and didn't experience a problem.

<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default"><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Package: upgrade-reports</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Version: 9</font></div><div class="gmail_default">
<font face="courier new, monospace">Severity: grave</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Followed the Debian 9 release notes to upgrade
a jessie i386 (686) machine to </font><span style="font-family:&quot;courier new&quot;,monospace">stretch. No apt sources except official debian ones. Following the </span><span style="font-family:&quot;courier new&quot;,monospace">apt-get dist-upgrade
step, attempts to use apt-get, apt-cache, aptitude</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">produce the following error:</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div
class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"># apt-get update</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Hit:1 <a href="http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian" target="_blank">http://ftp.us.debian.org/<wbr>debian</a>
stretch-updates InRelease</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Ign:2 <a href="http://ftp.debian.org/debian" target="_blank">http://ftp.debian.org/debian</a> stretch InRelease</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><
font face="courier new, monospace">Get:3 <a href="http://security.debian.org" target="_blank">http://security.debian.org</a> stretch/updates InRelease [62.9 kB]</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Hit:4 <a href="
http://ftp.debian.org/debian" target="_blank">http://ftp.debian.org/debian</a> stretch Release</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Fetched 62.9 kB in 1s (38.2 kB/s)</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="
courier new, monospace">Reading package lists... Error!</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">E: flAbsPath on /var/lib/dpkg/status failed - realpath (22: Invalid argument)</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font
face="courier new, monospace">E: Could not open file  - open (2: No such file or directory)</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">E: Problem opening</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new,
monospace">E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div
class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">Error persists after reboot of the system.</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"

However, dpkg -l and similar still work. The /var/lib/dpkg structure appears to be intact:</font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><div

class="gmail_default">$ ls -l /var/lib/dpkg</div><div class="gmail_default">total 6904</div><div class="gmail_default">drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    4096 Jul  7 16:39 alternatives</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1379057 Apr 28  
2015 available</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1361618 Apr 28  2015 available-old</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root       8 Feb 20  2006 cmethopt</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    
953 Jul  7 15:54 diversions</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    1034 Jul  7 15:54 diversions-old</div><div class="gmail_default">drwxr-xr-x 2 root root  339968 Jul  7 16:03 info</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r----- 1
root root       0 Jul  7 16:44 lock</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r----- 1 root root       0 Feb 20  2006 methlock</div><div class="gmail_default">drwxr-xr-x 7 root root    4096 Feb  7  2011 methods</div><div class="gmail_default">drwxr-
xr-x 2 root root    4096 May 26  2005 parts</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     460 Jul  7 16:40 statoverride</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     421 Jul  7 16:40 statoverride-old</div><div class="
gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1961225 Jul  7 16:44 status</div><div class="gmail_default">-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1961225 Jul  7 16:44 status-old</div><div class="gmail_default">drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    4096 Jul  7 16:43 triggers</div><div
class="gmail_default">drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    4096 Jul  7 16:44 updates</div></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div><div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace"><br></font></div>
<div class="gmail_default"><font face="courier new, monospace">I am using Debian GNU/Linux 2.2, kernel 2.2.17-pre-patch-13</font><span style="font-family:&quot;courier new&quot;,monospace"> and libc6 2.1.3-10.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><
span style="font-family:&quot;courier new&quot;,monospace"><br></span></div><div class="gmail_default"><span style="font-family:&quot;courier new&quot;,monospace">Earlier in the week, I did a similar upgrade on another system with same hardware and didn&#
39;t experience a problem.</span></div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div><div class="gmail_default"><br></div></div></div>

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist

Quoting Niels Thykier (niels@thykier.net):

FTR; I don't think that "apt-get check" is supposed to work as non-root.

- If it fails, please attempt to figure out where the permission
fails (e.g. [dir-test])

# ls -ld / /var /var/lib /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg/status
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 1024 Jul 10 11:21 /
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 May 7 2013 /var
drwxr-xr-x 74 root root 4096 Jul 7 16:01 /var/lib
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Jul 11 08:48 /var/lib/dpkg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1961225 Jul 11 08:48 /var/lib/dpkg/status

As you can see, none of these are writable by _apt; however, these are
the same permissions I see on the other (working)

Indeed, and _apt does not need write access to the status file.

Does it work if you disable the sandbox user, e.g. by using:
apt-get -o APT::Sandbox::User=root update

No, same error:

# apt-get -o APT::Sandbox::User=root update
Get:1 http://security.debian.org stretch/updates InRelease [62.9 kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian stretch-updates InRelease [88.5 kB]
Ign:3 http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch InRelease
Hit:4 http://ftp.debian.org/debian stretch Release
Fetched 151 kB in 1s (81.1 kB/s)
Reading package lists... Error!
E: flAbsPath on /var/lib/dpkg/status failed - realpath (22: Invalid argument) E: Could not open file - open (2: No such file or directory)
E: Problem opening
E: The package lists or status file could not be parsed or opened.


--
Alan Schwartz
The Michael Reese Endowed Professor of Medical Education
Associate Head, UIC Department of Medical Education
Research Professor, UIC Department of Pediatrics
alansz@uic.edu | http://ulan.mede.uic.edu/alansz | PGP: 0x062556CF

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XPost: linux.debian.bugs.dist

Sorry to hear you had issues with the upgrade.

The problem you describe appears to be related to the release notes item >[5.3.2] (5.3.2.1 actually, but I cannot find the direct link to that).
The exact case with /var/lib/dpkg/status is not mentioned, but it could
be that there are some permissions on your system that forbit "_apt" to >access /var/lib/dpkg/status.

* Could you please try to login in as the _apt user and check that it
can read /var/lib/dpkg/status?

Due to the /nonexistent home directory and /bin/false login shell,
it does not appear to be possible to log in as _apt:

# su - _apt
No directory, logging in with HOME=/

If I change _apt's HOME to /tmp and login shell to /bin/bash:

# su - _apt
_apt$ apt-get check
E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied) E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?

- If it fails, please attempt to figure out where the permission
fails (e.g. [dir-test])

# ls -ld / /var /var/lib /var/lib/dpkg /var/lib/dpkg/status
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 1024 Jul 10 11:21 /
drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 4096 May 7 2013 /var
drwxr-xr-x 74 root root 4096 Jul 7 16:01 /var/lib
drwxr-xr-x 8 root root 4096 Jul 11 08:48 /var/lib/dpkg
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1961225 Jul 11 08:48 /var/lib/dpkg/status

As you can see, none of these are writable by _apt; however,
these are the same permissions I see on the other (working)
Debian 9 system. lsattr shows no attributes on any /var/lib/dpkg/status
files.

* If you have any policy framework enabled (SELinux or AppArmor),
please check if any of these are forbidding the access.

Neither of those are enabled.

--
Alan Schwartz
The Michael Reese Endowed Professor of Medical Education
Associate Head, UIC Department of Medical Education
Research Professor, UIC Department of Pediatrics
alansz@uic.edu | http://ulan.mede.uic.edu/alansz | PGP: 0x062556CF

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