Opened 15 years ago

Closed 15 years ago

#20545 closed defect (fixed)

smartmontools removes the user's config file and no longer works

Reported by: vinc17@… Owned by: tobypeterson
Priority: Normal Milestone:
Component: ports Version: 1.7.1
Keywords: Cc:
Port: smartmontools

Description

The new revision 5.38_1 of smartmontools no longer works. First, it removed my config file! Then the daemon is no longer running.

Change History (11)

comment:1 Changed 15 years ago by tobypeterson

Resolution: worksforme
Status: newclosed

Removing the config file was a necessary evil - before, it would just overwrite any user config file. Problem should be gone in the future.

Not sure why it isn't running - it was switched from the deprecated startup item to a launchd job. If rebooting and/or manually loading the plist doesn't work, provide logs.

comment:2 Changed 15 years ago by tobypeterson

See #2365 regarding config files.

comment:3 Changed 15 years ago by vinc17@…

OK, but perhaps the old config file should have been restored or a message should have been displayed to warn the user. When I did the upgrade, I wasn't aware that my config file disappeared.

Ditto for loading the plist, a message should have been displayed to warn the user that something important had changed.

comment:4 Changed 15 years ago by vinc17@…

Resolution: worksforme
Status: closedreopened

I'm reopening since it still doesn't work.

$ sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/net.sourceforge.smartmontools.smartd.plist
net.sourceforge.smartmontools.smartd: Already loaded

But the daemon isn't running.

Other plist files have <key>RunAtLoad</key><true/>.

comment:5 Changed 15 years ago by tobypeterson

Resolution: worksforme
Status: reopenedclosed

comment:6 Changed 15 years ago by vinc17@…

Resolution: worksforme
Status: closedreopened

smartmontools/files/net.sourceforge.smartmontools.smartd.plist is clearly broken.

comment:7 Changed 15 years ago by vinc17@…

well... unless there's something special to do in order to have the RunAtLoad set to true (e.g. an option in macports.conf?), but that's not documented.

comment:8 Changed 15 years ago by tobypeterson

Resolution: worksforme
Status: reopenedclosed

RunAtLoad wouldn't make any sense - that only causes the job to get run once. KeepAlive is true, that should be enough. I don't see how you can say it's "clearly broken" - for me, it "clearly works".

comment:9 Changed 15 years ago by tobypeterson

Priority: HighNormal

Hrm. Are you on Tiger or something? That might explain it...

comment:10 in reply to:  8 ; Changed 15 years ago by vinc17@…

Resolution: worksforme
Status: closedreopened
Summary: smartmontools removes the user's config file and no longer workssmartmontools no longer loaded on Tiger

Replying to toby@…:

RunAtLoad wouldn't make any sense - that only causes the job to get run once.

It does make sense. This is what Apple sometimes does for daemons that need to run all the time, e.g. in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.vix.cron.plist.

I don't see what you mean by "that only causes the job to get run once". Actually I also need <key>OnDemand</key><false/> so that the daemon is restarted automatically after being killed.

KeepAlive is true, that should be enough.

Apple doesn't seem to use KeepAlive very much:

$ grep KeepAlive /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/*
/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.usbmuxd.plist:  <key>KeepAlive</key>

But this plist also has <key>RunAtLoad</key><true/> and <key>OnDemand</key><false/>.

I don't see how you can say it's "clearly broken" - for me, it "clearly works".

It works on your machine. But machines are different, with different options and so on. You mustn't assume that just because it works on your machine, it isn't buggy, in particular when analyzing various plist files shows a clear difference.

Are you on Tiger or something?

Yes, I'm on Tiger. Hmm... According to Technical Note TN2083 - Daemons and Agents, this is what makes the difference, KeepAlive is supported as of 10.5 only. In fact, setting OnDemand to false would be sufficient.

(Wondering why trac doesn't have an "OS" field, contrary to usual BTS.)

comment:11 in reply to:  10 Changed 15 years ago by tobypeterson

Resolution: fixed
Status: reopenedclosed
Summary: smartmontools no longer loaded on Tigersmartmontools removes the user's config file and no longer works

Restoring the old title and closing (again), as the problem you're describing is different from the original problem.

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