Arch Linux

iskandr

Member

Registered: 2011-05-06

Posts: 41

Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

Since my last system update today, I get a systemd error message when booting my system, related to systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service

systemctl status systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service gives me the following output:

[alex@archpc ~]$ systemctl status systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service - Recreate Volatile Files and Directories
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service; static)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Di 2013-10-08 20:20:43 CEST; 9min ago
     Docs: man:tmpfiles.d(5)
           man:systemd-tmpfiles(8)
  Process: 299 ExecStart=/usr/bin/systemd-tmpfiles --create --remove --exclude-prefix=/dev (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 299 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Does anyone know what this means. Can I ignore this?

Last edited by iskandr (2013-10-08 18:53:59)

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

You need to dig a little deeper into why it failed.  Simply giving output that it did indeed fail does not give any relevant information about what might have gone wrong.

iskandr

Member

Registered: 2011-05-06

Posts: 41

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

I have no idea how I would approach that, though. Except for updating a couple of packages, I didn't really play around with anything on my system lately. What does tmpfiles-setup service do?

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

Your system has man pages.

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

And systemctl is kind enough to list the relevant docs in the status output. Also, apart from this status, you can always check the journal.

Last edited by Raynman (2013-10-08 17:13:06)

iskandr

Member

Registered: 2011-05-06

Posts: 41

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

I know it does, I wouldn't have bothered opening this thread if the information I have gotten on my own so far would have helped me to solve this problem, right?

If you can't or don't want to help, don't bother answering. If you think I need to provide more specific information, then please tell me which this would be.

WonderWoofy

Member

From: Los Gatos, CA

Registered: 2012-05-19

Posts: 8,414

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

If you want more specific infomration, you need to post more specific questions and details.  Asking something like "what does tmpfiles-setup do?" is rather ridiculous if you want specific information.  There are man pages, and an indication that you have read them, or done any kind of research into the problem yourself would go a long way around here.  These forums are not a place where you should come with the expecatition of having your hand held through the issue.  There is the expectation that you will do your own research and general problem solving, though at times with the assistance of the community. 

The most basic of debugging tools are the logs.  Not knowing how to use the logs is akin to not really knowing how to properly use the system.  You need to learn how to properly use the systemd journal so that you can gather relevant information about your issue.  Until you do that, no one here can actually provide you help.

Edit: BTW, I kind of don't believe you that you have read the man page, yet still don't know what the systemd-tmpfiles binary/service does.

systemd-tmpfiles creates, deletes and cleans up volatile and temporary files and directories, based on the configuration file format and location specified in tmpfiles.d(5).

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2013-10-08 17:26:14)

iskandr

Member

Registered: 2011-05-06

Posts: 41

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

I have, but I'm not an expert user nor do I understand every detail about every service of my operating system. Reading man pages doesn't always help less technically inclined users like me. Now you might say "Then you might consider using a different distribution", but believe it or not, I've been using Arch for many years and have always been able to solve most problems on my own. This time I can't, that's why I hoped someone with more knowledge about the tmpfiles service might be able to help me (to help myself).

Raynman

Member

Registered: 2011-10-22

Posts: 1,539

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

help me (to help myself).

I would say pointing to man pages (1) and the journal (2) is helping you help yourself to figure out (roughly at least) what the service does (1) and to find any additional error messages (2). The man page also tells you where the configuration files live, although the last time I made a typo there, the journal gave me the full path of the file that needed fixing.

Last edited by Raynman (2013-10-08 17:40:33)

iskandr

Member

Registered: 2011-05-06

Posts: 41

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

help me (to help myself).

I would say pointing to man pages (1) and the journal (2) is helping you help yourself to figure out (roughly at least) what the service does (1) and to find any additional error messages (2). The man page also tells you where the configuration files live, although the last time I made a typo there, the journal gave me the full path of the file that needed fixing.

I understand, though as I already mentioned, being able to read alone doesn't help me in this case. I do have a rough understanding of what that service does, but this doesn't really help me since how those specific config files work exceeds my knowledge. Also, there are no config files in /etc/tmpfiles.d

I have deleted everything inside /tmp but the service creates a folder named systemd-private-xXxxxX inside /tmp on every reboot, which I can only access as root.

Last edited by iskandr (2013-10-08 17:56:59)

iskandr

Member

Registered: 2011-05-06

Posts: 41

Re: Systemd: "Recreate Volatile Files and Directories" fails [SOLVED]

also journalctl doesn't provide any logs about systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service at all

[alex@archpc ~]$ journalctl _PID=299
-- Logs begin at Mo 2013-09-16 01:15:15 CEST, end at Di 2013-10-08 22:20:56 CEST. --

edit.

my bad, should have run it as root:

 sudo journalctl _PID=1462
-- Logs begin at Mo 2013-09-16 00:29:01 CEST, end at Di 2013-10-08 22:47:14 CEST. --
Okt 08 22:32:31 archpc systemd-tmpfiles[1462]:
 [/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/i2prouter.conf:1] Unknown user 'i2p'.
Okt 08 22:32:31 archpc systemd-tmpfiles[1462]: 
stat(/run/user/1001/gvfs) failed: Permission denied

Seems like the problem is because i deleted the user "i2p" after i stopped using i2p.
Removing the "i2p-bin" package solved it for me.

Sorry for having been such a nag. I'll learn to appreciate the journal in the future, i promise

Last edited by iskandr (2013-10-08 18:53:43)