[solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

leonidas · 2017-09-13 07:57:04

I used a live cd and chroot to fix my broken pacman.
Somewhere I made a mistake and after a reboot I got the error Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories
The system boots but the user is not exist (only root user exists).
Also my /etc/fstab is empty
Can I fix it or it's better to reformat my laptop?

Last edited by leonidas (2017-09-14 05:05:15)

i_love_r34 · 2017-09-13 08:22:21

Maybe this can help you: Arch Linux Forums

loqs · 2017-09-13 08:51:19

What was broken with pacman that needed fixing? What commands did you run to try to fix the issue?
What is the output of the following commands

# journalctl -b 0 -u systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service
$ cat /etc/passwd

leonidas · 2017-09-13 09:40:29

The problem when I was calling pacman was:

 error while loading shared libraries: libicuuc.so.57: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

# journalctl -b 0 -u systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service

 
-- Logs begin at Wed 2017-09-13 12:23:18 EEST, end at Wed 2017-09-13 12:31:29 EEST. --
Sep 13 12:23:18 archlinux systemd[1]: Starting Create Volatile Files and Directories...
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd-tmpfiles[224]: [/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/colord.conf:1] Unknown user 'colord'.
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd-tmpfiles[224]: [/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/colord.conf:2] Unknown user 'colord'.
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd-tmpfiles[224]: [/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/xmms2.conf:1] Unknown user 'xmms2'.
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd-tmpfiles[224]: [/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/xmms2.conf:2] Unknown user 'xmms2'.
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd[1]: Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories.
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service: Unit entered failed state.
Sep 13 12:23:19 archlinux systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

cat /etc/passwd

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
bin:x:1:1:bin:/bin:/usr/bin/nologin
daemon:x:2:2:daemon:/:/usr/bin/nologin
mail:x:8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:/usr/bin/nologin
ftp:x:14:11:ftp:/srv/ftp:/usr/bin/nologin
http:x:33:33:http:/srv/http:/usr/bin/nologin
nobody:x:99:99:nobody:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-journal-gateway:x:191:191:systemd-journal-gateway:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-timesync:x:192:192:systemd-timesync:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-network:x:193:193:systemd-network:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-bus-proxy:x:194:194:systemd-bus-proxy:/:/usr/bin/nologin
systemd-resolve:x:195:195:systemd-resolve:/:/usr/bin/nologin
privoxy:x:42:42:Privoxy:/:/sbin/nologin
systemd-journal-remote:x:998:998:systemd Journal Remote:/:/sbin/nologin
systemd-coredump:x:994:994:systemd Core Dumper:/:/sbin/nologin
systemd-journal-upload:x:995:995:systemd Journal Upload:/:/sbin/nologin
dbus:x:81:81::/:/sbin/nologin
mysql:x:89:89:MariaDB:/var/lib/mysql:/sbin/nologin
ceph:x:997:997::/run/ceph:/sbin/nologin
uuidd:x:68:68::/:/sbin/nologin
tomcat7:x:71:71:Tomcat 7 user:/usr/share/tomcat7:/sbin/nologin
sddm:x:996:996:Simple Desktop Display Manager:/var/lib/sddm:/sbin/nologin

There is no leonidas user...

With chroot I tried to update my system with

pacman -r /mnt -Syu

and icu with pacman -r /mnt -S icu (which also updated some other dependencies). Also ask me to overwrite the files and reply with yes
That's all I can remember...

loqs · 2017-09-13 09:55:39

It appaears /etc/passwd was somehow deleted systemd-sysusers recreated it but colord and xmms2 do not use sysusers.d so those uses were not created so systemd-tmpfiles-setup.service fails.
systemd-sysusers also does not create none system users. pacman.log might help explain how /etc/passwd came to be overwritten. Reinstalling colord and xmms2 should recreate those system users.
None system users will need to be recreated manually.

leonidas · 2017-09-13 10:08:37

I install colord and xmms2 and the error (Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories) disappeared. But /etc/fstab is still empty. Should I recreate from it and how?

loqs · 2017-09-13 14:19:03

leonidas wrote:

But /etc/fstab is still empty. Should I recreate from it and how?

The same way you created it when installing the system.

leonidas · 2017-09-14 05:04:23

I finally managed to restore my system.
I recreated /etc/fstab and I added again the user.
pacman works again.

Arch Linux

#1 2017-09-13 07:57:04

[solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#2 2017-09-13 08:22:21

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#3 2017-09-13 08:51:19

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#4 2017-09-13 09:40:29

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#5 2017-09-13 09:55:39

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#6 2017-09-13 10:08:37

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#7 2017-09-13 14:19:03

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

#8 2017-09-14 05:04:23

Re: [solved] Failed to start Create Volatile Files and Directories

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