[Bug 1596056] [NEW] output of invoke-rc.d for systemd units un-debuggable on failure

[Steve Langasek]

Public bug reported:

When invoke-rc.d is called on a systemd system, if the unit fails to
start, you get output like:

Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openafs-fileserver.service → /lib/systemd/system/openafs-fileserver.service.
Job for openafs-fileserver.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status openafs-fileserver.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript openafs-fileserver, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing package openafs-fileserver (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

The output shown here comes from systemctl itself, and is usually fine.
The admin who ran systemctl can run those other commands to debug.

However, when called by invoke-rc.d, this output is usually seen only in
a log file; maybe submitted in a bug report, maybe attached to something
like an autopkgtest:

https://objectstorage.prodstack4-5.canonical.com/v1/AUTH_77e2ada1e7a84929a74ba3b87153c0ac
/autopkgtest-yakkety/yakkety/armhf/o/openafs/20160624_174535@/log.gz

By the time someone looks at this log output, it is often too late to
run those commands in order to debug the failure.

invoke-rc.d should call these commands for us on systemd unit failure,
so that the relevant debugging information is included in the log where
it can help.

We don't want to call 'journalctl -xe', which might leak information
into the log from other jobs, but 'journalctl -x -u <this_unit>' may be
appropriate.

** Affects: init-system-helpers (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1596056

Title:
  output of invoke-rc.d for systemd units un-debuggable on failure

Status in init-system-helpers package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When invoke-rc.d is called on a systemd system, if the unit fails to
  start, you get output like:

  Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/openafs-fileserver.service → /lib/systemd/system/openafs-fileserver.service.
  Job for openafs-fileserver.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
  See "systemctl status openafs-fileserver.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
  invoke-rc.d: initscript openafs-fileserver, action "start" failed.
  dpkg: error processing package openafs-fileserver (--configure):
   subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

  The output shown here comes from systemctl itself, and is usually
  fine.  The admin who ran systemctl can run those other commands to
  debug.

  However, when called by invoke-rc.d, this output is usually seen only
  in a log file; maybe submitted in a bug report, maybe attached to
  something like an autopkgtest:

  https://objectstorage.prodstack4-5.canonical.com/v1/AUTH_77e2ada1e7a84929a74ba3b87153c0ac
  /autopkgtest-yakkety/yakkety/armhf/o/openafs/20160624_174535@/log.gz

  By the time someone looks at this log output, it is often too late to
  run those commands in order to debug the failure.

  invoke-rc.d should call these commands for us on systemd unit failure,
  so that the relevant debugging information is included in the log
  where it can help.

  We don't want to call 'journalctl -xe', which might leak information
  into the log from other jobs, but 'journalctl -x -u <this_unit>' may
  be appropriate.

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