error at system boot [SOLVED]

rg_arc · 2012-05-07 02:00:56

I recently updated my system, namely I updated initscripts. I believe sometime before I updated with initscripts I updated and before I shut the computer down everything froze completely while I was waiting for iGoogle to load in Chromium, I couldn't move the mouse or do anything.

Luckily nothing serious happened, my journals recovered successfully and everything was back to normal. Afterwards, I updated initscripts along with whatever packages needed to be updated. Now I am receiving an error at system start:

INIT: Entering runlevel: 5
Sun May  6 11:57:25 2012: error: Unknown parameter "-p/etc/sysctl.conf"
Sun May  6 11:57:25 2012: usage:  sysctl [-n] [-e] variable ... 
Sun May  6 11:57:25 2012:         sysctl [-n] [-e] [-q] -w variable=value ... 
Sun May  6 11:57:25 2012:         sysctl [-n] [-e] -a 
Sun May  6 11:57:25 2012:         sysctl [-n] [-e] [-q] -p <file>   (default /etc/sysctl.conf) 
Sun May  6 11:57:25 2012:         sysctl [-n] [-e] -A

I mentioned the freeze because I am not sure if that has anything to do with this error or not. I am still worried about the freeze because I have no idea why it happened and how to troubleshoot that particular issue.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Last edited by rg_arc (2012-05-07 07:14:41)

KingX · 2012-05-07 02:35:39

Well the error is that there should be a space after the "-p" switch in

Unknown parameter "-p/etc/sysctl.conf"

Hence the unknown parameter. Did you make any changes to the system files?

I am trying to find where this occurs, looks like you are booting into runlevel 5. Not sure which file it is, I thought it'd be one the rc.* scripts.. but no luck so far.

Last edited by KingX (2012-05-07 02:38:21)

rg_arc · 2012-05-07 02:38:17

I don't remember making any changes to the system files.

KingX · 2012-05-07 02:39:19

Are you posting this error from a logfile or from tty?

rg_arc · 2012-05-07 02:41:46

I copy/pasted this info from /var/log/boot

Pres · 2012-05-07 02:59:04

You could probably find where that syntax error is with something like:

grep -r "\-p/etc/sysctl.conf" /etc/*

rg_arc · 2012-05-07 03:04:14

grep: /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Auto enjoi: Permission denied
grep: /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Auto 2WIRE957: Permission denied
grep: /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Auto wireless: Permission denied
grep: /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/Auto USMStudent: Permission denied
grep: /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/random_seed: Permission denied
grep: /etc/pacman.d/gnupg/secring.gpg: Permission denied
grep: /etc/passwd-: Permission denied
grep: /etc/polkit-1/localauthority: Permission denied
grep: /etc/ppp/pap-secrets: Permission denied
grep: /etc/ppp/chap-secrets: Permission denied
grep: /etc/shadow: Permission denied
grep: /etc/shadow-: Permission denied
grep: /etc/sudoers: Permission denied
grep: /etc/sudoers.d: Permission denied

I get this output

mcmillan · 2012-05-07 05:44:01

You can get rid of those errors by running the command as root, but unless it's in one of those files it doesn't look like it found anything.

Since I was curious what sysctl.conf even did I grepped for just sysctl in /etc and got a hit for /etc/rc.multi, which actually is calling another file, /usr/lib/initscripts/arch-sysctl . That might be where your real problem is.

rg_arc · 2012-05-07 05:52:23

hmm interesting. I looked in that file (/usr/lib/initscripts/arch-sysctl) and found this:

for path in "${@:-${sysctl_d[@]}}"; do
        [[ -f $path ]] && fragments[${path##*/}]=$path
done

for path in "${fragments[@]}"; do
        sysctl -q -p"$path"
done

second from the last line I see the -p"

so that might be the problem... I will shutdown and tell you what happens after this session.

mcmillan · 2012-05-07 06:12:18

Yeah I just spotted that in mine as well. I was about to report it, but it looks like that might be intentional with a recent bug fix that removed the space https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/29760

I don't get any errors with the current version in my boot log, so it doesn't seem to affect me either way, but you might want to chime in on that if you're having a problem

rg_arc · 2012-05-07 07:14:20

yeah that fixed the error.

mcmillan · 2012-05-07 15:34:48

Except that seems to cause problems for other people, which was why the space was removed in the first place.

dr.dynamics · 2012-05-07 17:13:48

Had the same problem, tracked down the error to /usr/lib/initscripts/arch-sysctl, judging from the error mesages, guessed that there should be a space, added it, and problem solved. Wierd thing is that that the problem occured when I booted using the traditional scripts, and not using systemd.

dr.dynamics · 2012-05-08 06:36:24

Further digging has turned up something else. It seems that the package procps has been replaced by procps-ng. I was still using procps. Upgrading to procps-ng has allowed me to use the arch-sysctl without modifying to insert the space.

mcmillan · 2012-05-08 07:10:25

that might explain why you were having problems but I wasn't, since the bug report I linked to makes it seem as syntax seems to have changed going to procps-ng.

Were either of you doing partial updates? If so that's probably the cause of having the older procps and the newer initscripts, and is why we always suggest doing full updates with pacman -Syu. Though it's also possible to hit some incompatibility if you have bad luck and update while things are syncing

rg_arc · 2012-05-08 07:40:15

should I take down the solved tag?

also, what about sudo pacman -Syyu?

bernarcher · 2012-05-08 08:40:52

rg_arc keep the [SOLVED] tag. It happens often that discussions continue beyond.

Arch Linux

#1 2012-05-07 02:00:56

error at system boot [SOLVED]

#2 2012-05-07 02:35:39

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#3 2012-05-07 02:38:17

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#4 2012-05-07 02:39:19

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#5 2012-05-07 02:41:46

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#6 2012-05-07 02:59:04

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#7 2012-05-07 03:04:14

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#8 2012-05-07 05:44:01

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#9 2012-05-07 05:52:23

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#10 2012-05-07 06:12:18

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#11 2012-05-07 07:14:20

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#12 2012-05-07 15:34:48

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#13 2012-05-07 17:13:48

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#14 2012-05-08 06:36:24

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#15 2012-05-08 07:10:25

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#16 2012-05-08 07:40:15

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

#17 2012-05-08 08:40:52

Re: error at system boot [SOLVED]

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