"Error calling StartServiceByName" problems with systemd 219-5

B-Con · 2015-04-23 06:54:13

I ran a pacman -Syu a couple days ago and upgraded systemd. Here's the pacman.log entry for it:

[2015-04-21 00:11] [ALPM] upgraded libsystemd (218-2 -> 219-5)
[2015-04-21 00:11] [ALPM] upgraded systemd (218-2 -> 219-5)
[2015-04-21 00:12] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Failed to execute operation: Connection timed out

Since then, almost all systemd commands fail. For example:

$ sudo systemctl enable deluged
Error getting authority: Error initializing authority: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut: Activation of org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1 timed out (g-dbus-error-quark, 20)
Failed to execute operation: Connection timed out

I get similar errors for things like trying to shutdown:

$ sudo poweroff
Error getting authority: Error initializing authority: Error calling StartServiceByName for org.freedesktop.PolicyKit1: Timeout was reached (g-io-error-quark, 24)
Failed to start poweroff.target: Connection timed out

(The machine actually powers off something like 30 seconds later.)

There are a few other wonky things in my system, for example, some random subset of my torrents in deluge are in an error state (but I can't get deluge to give me a meaningful error to investigate).

I downgraded systemd and libsystemd back to 218-2 and everything (even the torrents) work fine now. The effect was instantaneous, even before reboot. I tried reinstalling systemd before the downgrade but that didn't fix anything. I don't see any un-merged .pacnew files on my system. And I -Syu'd again a couple hours ago.

Any ideas on why systemd 219-5 is breaking on my system? Not seeing anything in my searches, unfortunately.

Last edited by B-Con (2015-04-23 06:56:12)

berbae · 2015-04-23 08:27:15

[2015-04-21 00:12] [ALPM-SCRIPTLET] Failed to execute operation: Connection timed out

This is not normal; did you investigate this?

I don't know what the problem is, but I can suggest that you directly try to run the commands in the systemd.install script of the package;
in particular, these ones:

post_common() {
  systemd-sysusers
  udevadm hwdb --update
  journalctl --update-catalog
}

Run them directly under root, not through sudo, and see if errors are output.

B-Con · 2015-04-24 05:21:26

I'm assuming that pacman.log error is related to the problem, yes.

I tried those commands and a couple other of the commands from in .INSTALL but I'm not finding anything that outputs any error.

Interestingly when I try to extract the systemd package I get the following errors:

$ tar xJf systemd-219-5-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz 
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'
tar: Ignoring unknown extended header keyword 'SCHILY.fflags'

Just upgraded systemd to 219-6, same problems, and same pacman error message when I upgraded.

berbae · 2015-04-24 10:20:55

I don't think these tar warnings are linked to your problem.
I get these same warnings with systemd-219-5 and systemd-218-2, but I have not the '[ALPM-SCRIPTLET]' error.
And you said that all is good with systemd-218-2.

Personally, when upgrading to systemd 219, I only had a problem to connect to internet with systemd-networkd,
because I used the 'ipv6.disable=1' kernel command line parameter;
after removing this parameter, my connection works again.

So in your case, I am now not sure that the '[ALPM-SCRIPTLET]' error concerns the systemd package.
Look all the context in pacman log file, and in the systemd journal; maybe there is a connection time out related to something else.

Arch Linux

#1 2015-04-23 06:54:13

"Error calling StartServiceByName" problems with systemd 219-5

#2 2015-04-23 08:27:15

Re: "Error calling StartServiceByName" problems with systemd 219-5

#3 2015-04-24 05:21:26

Re: "Error calling StartServiceByName" problems with systemd 219-5

#4 2015-04-24 10:20:55

Re: "Error calling StartServiceByName" problems with systemd 219-5

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