Hi,
I've Googled around for where to start to solve this problem, and I can't even begin.
I confess, I don't grok systemd or systemctl at all. Suddenly my breezy aptitude updates have broken, and I can't make even the smallest change with apt-get or aptitude. I've tried the -f switch to fix things, and various combinations of "install", "upgrade", "uninstall", "purge", "dist-upgrade".
Nothing works. I don't get past square one. Here is the main error that stops me every single time:
Reading changelogs... Done
Extracting templates from packages: 100%
Preconfiguring packages ...
Setting up procps (2:3.3.9-8) ...
Job for systemd-sysctl.service failed. See 'systemctl status systemd-sysctl.service' and 'journalctl -xn' for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript procps, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing package procps (--configure):
subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
procps
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
Now, as a dutiful system penitent, I followed up these errors, but I can't make heads or tails of the information. I have a programming background, but still learning the basics of Linux systems. Here's what 'systemctl status systemd-sysctl.service' reported:
systemd-sysctl.service - Apply Kernel Variables
Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-sysctl.service; static)
Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2014-10-06 19:46:43 PDT; 15min ago
Docs: man:systemd-sysctl.service(8)
man:sysctl.d(5)
Process: 7477 ExecStart=/lib/systemd/systemd-sysctl (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Main PID: 7477 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
Oct 06 19:46:43 sinova systemd[1]: systemd-sysctl.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Oct 06 19:46:43 sinova systemd[1]: Failed to start Apply Kernel Variables.
Oct 06 19:46:43 sinova systemd[1]: Unit systemd-sysctl.service entered failed state.
I can see there is a problem here, but I don't know what "Apply Kernel Variables" process is. Following the next step, here is what 'journalctl -xn' reported:
-- Logs begin at Sun 2014-10-05 10:05:14 PDT, end at Mon 2014-10-06 20:06:45 PDT. --
Oct 06 20:04:38 sinova sshd[7653]: PAM 2 more authentication failures; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=61.174.51.205 user=root
Oct 06 20:04:38 sinova sshd[7650]: fatal: Read from socket failed: Connection reset by peer [preauth]
Oct 06 20:04:38 sinova sshd[7650]: PAM 1 more authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=61.174.51.205 user=root
Oct 06 20:04:38 sinova sshd[7646]: fatal: Read from socket failed: Connection reset by peer [preauth]
Oct 06 20:04:38 sinova sshd[7646]: PAM 1 more authentication failure; logname= uid=0 euid=0 tty=ssh ruser= rhost=61.174.51.205
Oct 06 20:05:34 sinova /etc/gdm3/Xsession[1857]: Window manager warning: Log level 8: Source ID 52090 was not found when attempting to remove it
Oct 06 20:05:36 sinova wpa_supplicant[1348]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-STARTED
Oct 06 20:06:39 sinova wpa_supplicant[1348]: wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-STARTED
Oct 06 20:06:45 sinova uservd[7669]: call connected
Oct 06 20:06:45 sinova uservd/check[7668]: uservd[806] is running
This is completely opaque to me. *sigh*
Following vaguely similar steps to someone trying to walk someone else through an unrelated error with similar errors (a la Google), I tried journalctl -b _PID=7477 , the process reported by systemd-sysctl:
# journalctl -b _PID=7477
-- Logs begin at Sun 2014-10-05 10:05:14 PDT, end at Mon 2014-10-06 20:11:54 PDT. --
Oct 06 19:46:43 sinova systemd-sysctl[7477]: Failed to write 'dba_group_gid' to '/proc/sys/vm/hugetlb_shm_group': Invalid argument
This is exactly the same error reported if I follow the same steps and check the journalctl -b entry for other processes.
This started a few days ago, and I usually update with apt-get or Synaptic every day. Now I can't install, uninstall, update, fix, or do anything. How can I start to try to fix the problem? Any ideas? I have been Googling but can't find an "in".
Thanks! It's odd to feel so helpless. Usually I'm the one helping friends out with their computer problems.
I have been running Debian for about 6 months, first Wheezy and Jessie for 3 months. I have read the usual cautions about regular, reflexive aptitude or Synaptic updates suddenly turning a system sour, with great grief. I understand, I've already reinstalled Debian 3 times from scratch due to problems getting the UEFI / BIOS / Windows 8 hooks just right.
I'm running Jessie on a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E531 i5, upgraded to 16GB memory, a system I bought factory refurbished a few months ago, product ID 6885-XF3, AMD64 distribution, UEFI boot. (Got full dual boot working, yeah baby, no thanks to Microsoft's evil BIOS hooks.)
Thanks for any help! I don't mind rolling back a lot of dpkg or apt-get distributions, if there is a way to do it without wiping everything. If it comes to that, I can do that. This is a learning / testing system. My MacBook Pro is the one I can't live without.