[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Bug#169600: marked as done (Policy should mandate a place for init.d script to log errors to)

Your message dated Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:30:49 -0700
with message-id <[🔎] 87od6etnza.fsf@windlord.stanford.edu>
and subject line Rejected: Bug#169600: Policy should mandate a place for init.d script to log errors to
has caused the Debian Bug report #169600,
regarding Policy should mandate a place for init.d script to log errors to
to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what this
message is talking about, this may indicate a serious mail system
misconfiguration somewhere. Please contact owner@bugs.debian.org
immediately.)


-- 
169600: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=169600
Debian Bug Tracking System
Contact owner@bugs.debian.org with problems
--- Begin Message --- 
Package: debian-policy
Version: 3.5.7.1
Severity: wishlist

Currently the Debian policy mandates regarding scripts a few conventions
including which arguments to accept and how to ouput the results:

http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s10.4

However, even if it's common sense, it might be necessary to introduce
also a convention regarding error checking and logging. Many maintainers 
are getting used (and I see this from init.d scripts derived from
RedHat packages' code) to *not* check errors at all. Maintainers are
sometimes sending output to /dev/null in order to not taint the console's
output which might lead to the user not being aware of problems/issues
when a script is run. Some maintainers are doing it properly (and sending
a 'failed' to console when it cannot start) and some are not. However even
in the previous case, the user might want to dig into the problem in order
to see what/why has failed.

IMHO the policy should mandate that error checking be done and any errors
be sent in "not verbose" format to the console (...failed) and in verbose
format to some log (which should be of course logrotated but that'0s
another issue). 

The location of this log (/var/log/messages or a new one
/var/log/init.d.log?) should be specified in this policy too. Any
errors/messages from the init.d scripts should be sent there. This makes
it easier for users to know why a given service has failed in case the
system starts up unattended (and thus nobody looks at the console) or it
lacks console at all.

Regards

Javi

Attachment: pgpWgncLRrQPs.pgp
Description: PGP signature


--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message --- 
This proposal asks that Policy mandate a location to which init scripts
must log verbose errors.  The original proposal was made in 2002 and there
was little subsequent discussion in 2003.  This Policy proposal is also
not currently widely implemented in the archive and hence would be a
change ahead of current practice.

I'm rejecting this proposal due to lack of consensus and lack of support
by current practices in the archive.  This is a soft rejection, meaning
that if someone feels strongly about this proposal and wants to step
forward to champion it again, I'd be willing to reopen the bug.  However,
I would encourage anyone looking to champion this proposal to introduce a
simple facility for packages with init scripts to do something along these
lines (which can be done today without a Policy change) and then see how
much adoption across the archive can be achieved prior to a formal Policy
change.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org)               <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

--- End Message ---
Reply to: