[SOLVED] Shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot

Zibi1981 · 2023-05-12 12:31:26

Does anyone know why shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot, which can be fixed by recreating the folder /var/spool/mail again, and again, and again...?

$ systemctl --failed
  UNIT           LOAD   ACTIVE SUB    DESCRIPTION                                 
● shadow.service loaded failed failed Verify integrity of password and group files

LOAD   = Reflects whether the unit definition was properly loaded.
ACTIVE = The high-level unit activation state, i.e. generalization of SUB.
SUB    = The low-level unit activation state, values depend on unit type.
1 loaded units listed.
[zbigniew@MSI-Arch ~]$ sudo systemctl status shadow.service
× shadow.service - Verify integrity of password and group files
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shadow.service; static)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Fri 2023-05-12 12:18:56 CEST; 2h 7min ago
   Duration: 95ms
TriggeredBy: ● shadow.timer
   Main PID: 993 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
        CPU: 19ms

maj 12 12:18:56 MSI-Arch systemd[1]: Started Verify integrity of password and group files.
maj 12 12:18:56 MSI-Arch sh[1027]: user 'mail': directory '/var/spool/mail' does not exist
maj 12 12:18:56 MSI-Arch sh[1027]: pwck: bez zmian
maj 12 12:18:56 MSI-Arch systemd[1]: shadow.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
maj 12 12:18:56 MSI-Arch systemd[1]: shadow.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
[zbigniew@MSI-Arch ~]$ cd /var/spool/
[zbigniew@MSI-Arch spool]$ sudo mkdir mail
[zbigniew@MSI-Arch spool]$ sudo systemctl restart shadow.service
[zbigniew@MSI-Arch spool]$ sudo systemctl status shadow.service
○ shadow.service - Verify integrity of password and group files
     Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/shadow.service; static)
     Active: inactive (dead) since Fri 2023-05-12 14:27:06 CEST; 3s ago
   Duration: 55ms
TriggeredBy: ● shadow.timer
    Process: 439987 ExecStart=/bin/sh -c /usr/bin/pwck -r || r=1; /usr/bin/grpck -r && exit $r (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
   Main PID: 439987 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
        CPU: 52ms

maj 12 14:27:06 MSI-Arch systemd[1]: Started Verify integrity of password and group files.
maj 12 14:27:06 MSI-Arch systemd[1]: shadow.service: Deactivated successfully.
[zbigniew@MSI-Arch spool]$ systemctl --failed
  UNIT LOAD ACTIVE SUB DESCRIPTION
0 loaded units listed.

Last edited by Zibi1981 (2023-05-13 16:24:39)

V1del · 2023-05-12 12:35:32

The directory is part of the filesystem package, why does it not exist or get removed on your system?

pacman -Qkk filesystem

do you have a wonky/broken /var btrfs snapshot?

Last edited by V1del (2023-05-12 12:36:11)

Zibi1981 · 2023-05-12 13:33:08

V1del wrote:

The directory is part of the filesystem package, why does it not exist or get removed on your system?
pacman -Qkk filesystem
do you have a wonky/broken /var btrfs snapshot?

OK, now I seem to get it. Have a look at my /etc/fstab file, which has some SSD tweaks probably related to this issue

# Static information about the filesystems.
# See fstab(5) for details.

# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
# /dev/nvme0n1p6 LABEL=Linux
UUID=fcef3735-b24e-d901-e0e0-3735b24ed901	/         	ext4      	rw,relatime	0 1

# /dev/nvme0n1p1 LABEL=SYSTEM
UUID=DE84-77C3      	/boot     	vfat      	rw,relatime,fmask=0022,dmask=0022,codepage=437,iocharset=ascii,shortname=mixed,utf8,errors=remount-ro	0 2

# /dev/nvme0n1p3 LABEL=Windows
UUID=A00AC11E0AC0F278	/windows_c	ntfs      	rw,nosuid,nodev,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096	0 0

# /dev/nvme0n1p7 LABEL=WinRE\134x20tools
UUID=24F28577F2854DCC	/windows_x	ntfs      	rw,nosuid,nodev,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096	0 0

# /dev/nvme0n1p8 LABEL=BIOS_RVY
UUID=F8C08798C0875BAE	/windows_y	ntfs      	rw,nosuid,nodev,user_id=0,group_id=0,allow_other,blksize=4096	0 0

# /dev/nvme0n1p5
UUID=b23635f0-b55a-4f84-abd5-80158d874197	none      	swap      	defaults  	0 0

# SSD tweak
tmpfs   /tmp       tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777   0  0
tmpfs   /var/spool tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777   0  0
tmpfs   /var/tmp   tmpfs   defaults,noatime,mode=1777   0  0

Maybe there is a way to make shadow.service to work without loosing the benefits of those tweaks?

Last edited by Zibi1981 (2023-05-12 13:47:34)

V1del · 2023-05-12 14:01:22

Create the relevant file system structure so that the service file doesn't get tripped up, you can do so for volatile files/filesystems using systemd's tmpfiles implementation: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/System … rary_files

Zibi1981 · 2023-05-13 16:24:19

So I've created a file shadowservice.conf in the folder /etc/tmpfiles.d/ with one line

D /var/spool/mail 0755 root root

and that seems to solve my problem.

Thank you.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-05-12 12:31:26

[SOLVED] Shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot

#2 2023-05-12 12:35:32

Re: [SOLVED] Shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot

#3 2023-05-12 13:33:08

Re: [SOLVED] Shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot

#4 2023-05-12 14:01:22

Re: [SOLVED] Shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot

#5 2023-05-13 16:24:19

Re: [SOLVED] Shadow.service keeps failing after every reboot

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