[Bug 1886814] [NEW] posix_spawn usage in gnu make causes failures on s390x

[Dimitri John Ledkov]

Public bug reported:

posix_spawn usage in gnu make causes failures on s390x

Recently in gnu-make v4.3 https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/tYhbJFKN76/ it
started to use posix_spawn, instead of fork()/exec().

This has caused failure of an unrelated package flatpak-builder
autopkgtests on s390x only, like so

  echo Building
  make: echo: Operation not permitted
  make: *** [Makefile:2: all] Error 127

Julian Klaude investigated this in-depth. His earlier research also
indicated that this is a heisenbug, if one tries to print to stderr
before printing to stdout, no issue occurs.

We are configuring GNU make to be build with --disable-posix-spawn on
s390x only. We passed these details to Debian https://bugs.debian.org
/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=964541 too.

But I do wonder, if there is something different or incorrect about
posix_spawn() implementation in either glibc, or linux kernel, on s390x.
Or gnu-make's usage of posix_spawn().

As otherise, using posix_spawn() in gnu-make works on other
architectures, and flatpak-builder autopkgtests pass too.

It seems very weird that stdout does not appear to be functional, unless
stderr was opened/written to, from gnu-make execution compiled with
posix-spawn feature.

** Affects: ubuntu-z-systems
     Importance: Medium
         Status: New

** Affects: glibc (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Affects: make-dfsg (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: reverse-proxy-bugzilla s390x

** Also affects: glibc (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: linux (Ubuntu)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1886814

Title:
  posix_spawn usage in gnu make causes failures on s390x

Status in Ubuntu on IBM z Systems:
  New
Status in glibc package in Ubuntu:
  New
Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
  New
Status in make-dfsg package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  posix_spawn usage in gnu make causes failures on s390x

  Recently in gnu-make v4.3 https://paste.ubuntu.com/p/tYhbJFKN76/ it
  started to use posix_spawn, instead of fork()/exec().

  This has caused failure of an unrelated package flatpak-builder
  autopkgtests on s390x only, like so

    echo Building
    make: echo: Operation not permitted
    make: *** [Makefile:2: all] Error 127

  Julian Klaude investigated this in-depth. His earlier research also
  indicated that this is a heisenbug, if one tries to print to stderr
  before printing to stdout, no issue occurs.

  We are configuring GNU make to be build with --disable-posix-spawn on
  s390x only. We passed these details to Debian https://bugs.debian.org
  /cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=964541 too.

  But I do wonder, if there is something different or incorrect about
  posix_spawn() implementation in either glibc, or linux kernel, on
  s390x. Or gnu-make's usage of posix_spawn().

  As otherise, using posix_spawn() in gnu-make works on other
  architectures, and flatpak-builder autopkgtests pass too.

  It seems very weird that stdout does not appear to be functional,
  unless stderr was opened/written to, from gnu-make execution compiled
  with posix-spawn feature.

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