accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo

gtarch · 2026-03-03 09:06:04

I upgraded today and my logs are poluted by this message:

Mar 03 09:55:26 host-50q systemd[1]: Starting Accounts Service...
Mar 03 09:55:26 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 09:55:26 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit
Mar 03 09:55:26 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: started daemon version 25.34.0
Mar 03 09:55:26 host-50q systemd[1]: Started Accounts Service.
Mar 03 09:55:47 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 09:55:47 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit
Mar 03 09:56:36 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 09:56:36 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit
Mar 03 10:01:13 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 10:01:13 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit
Mar 03 10:19:04 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 10:19:04 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit
Mar 03 10:21:14 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 10:21:14 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit
Mar 03 10:32:04 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directory
Mar 03 10:32:04 host-50q accounts-daemon[939]: couldn't list homed users: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner: Could not activate remote peer 'org.freedesktop.home1': activation request failed: unknown unit

Any ideas what's going on there? Is it a bug?

Lone_Wolf · 2026-03-03 10:59:41

$ pacman -F accounts-daemon
extra/accountsservice 25.34.76-2
    usr/lib/accounts-daemon
$

It appears systemd-homed support in accountsservice has been disabled on purpose by the arch devs, see 25.34.76-2: Turn off homed again

Do you need systemd-homed functionality on your system ?
Please post the output of pacman -Qi accountsservice .

Moderator Note
moving to System Administration

gtarch · 2026-03-03 11:06:26

Lone_Wolf wrote:

Do you need systemd-homed functionality on your system ?
Please post the output of pacman -Qi accountsservice .

No, I don't need systemd-homed. I guess it's enabled by default, because I haven't set it up myself.

Name            : accountsservice
Version         : 25.34.76-2
Description     : D-Bus interface for user account query and manipulation
Architecture    : x86_64
URL             : https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/accountsservice/accountsservice
Licenses        : GPL-3.0-or-later
Groups          : None
Provides        : libaccountsservice.so=0-64
Depends On      : glib2  glibc  json-c  libgcc  libxcrypt  polkit  shadow  systemd  libcrypt.so=2-64  libglib-2.0.so=0-64  libgobject-2.0.so=0-64
                  libgio-2.0.so=0-64  libsystemd.so=0-64
Optional Deps   : None
Required By     : xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin
Optional For    : lightdm
Conflicts With  : None
Replaces        : None
Installed Size  : 1027.82 KiB
Packager        : Jan Alexander Steffens (heftig) <heftig@archlinux.org>
Build Date      : Mon 02 Mar 2026 04:25:53 EET
Install Date    : Tue 03 Mar 2026 09:53:09 EET
Install Reason  : Installed as a dependency for another package
Install Script  : No
Validated By    : Signature

Lone_Wolf · Yesterday 14:05:08

It does look like it could be an upstream bug.

The only reference to homed in accountsservice meson_options.txt is

option('create_homed', type: 'boolean', value: false, description: 'Use systemd-homed to create new user accounts')

That option is indeed false in a clean chroot build.

Maybe it needs a second option : use systemd-homed to query user info default=false

To verify if systemd-homed is active on your system run

$ find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print

and post the output.

Moderator Note:
when seeing homed in the error output I chose system administration.
After looking at this in depth I now feel Pacman & Package Upgrade Issues is the correct forum for this.
Moving to Pacman & Package Upgrade Issues.

gtarch · Yesterday 14:10:46

/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/p11-kit-server.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/pipewire.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/pipewire-pulse.socket
/etc/systemd/user/sockets.target.wants/gnome-keyring-daemon.socket
/etc/systemd/user/pipewire-session-manager.service
/etc/systemd/user/pipewire.service.wants/wireplumber.service
/etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants/getty@tty1.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/remote-fs.target
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/systemd-networkd.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/sshd.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/cups.service
/etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/cups.path
/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/systemd-userdbd.socket
/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/systemd-networkd.socket
/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/systemd-networkd-varlink.socket
/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/systemd-resolved-varlink.socket
/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/systemd-resolved-monitor.socket
/etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants/cups.socket
/etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.freedesktop.network1.service
/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/systemd-network-generator.service
/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/systemd-resolved.service
/etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants/systemd-timesyncd.service
/etc/systemd/system/network-online.target.wants/systemd-networkd-wait-online.service
/etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.freedesktop.resolve1.service
/etc/systemd/system/display-manager.service
/etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.bluez.service
/etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.target.wants/bluetooth.service
/etc/systemd/system/printer.target.wants/cups.service
/etc/systemd/system/dbus-org.freedesktop.timesync1.service
/etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants/snapper-timeline.timer
/etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants/snapper-cleanup.timer

Arch Linux

#1 2026-03-03 09:06:04

accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo

#2 2026-03-03 10:59:41

Re: accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo

#3 2026-03-03 11:06:26

Re: accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo

#4 Yesterday 14:05:08

Re: accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo

#5 Yesterday 14:10:46

Re: accounts-daemon: Unable to open /etc/tcb: No such file or directo

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