[Bug 1901742] Re: systemd-modules-load.service fails to start because it can't understand module arguments in /etc/modules, which it shouldn't even be reading

Tue Nov 10 16:10:27 UTC 2020

This is only a manpage error; options are no longer supported in the
/etc/modules file.

This was fixed in Debian by
https://salsa.debian.org/md/kmod/-/commit/676cb532b51be28cc19be6dd7fd8593ea5958e24

This is fixed already in Ubuntu focal and later.

** Changed in: systemd (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Invalid

** Also affects: systemd (Ubuntu Bionic)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Also affects: kmod (Ubuntu Bionic)
   Importance: Undecided
       Status: New

** Changed in: systemd (Ubuntu Bionic)
       Status: New => Invalid

** Changed in: kmod (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Fix Released

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1901742

Title:
  systemd-modules-load.service fails to start because it can't
  understand module arguments in /etc/modules, which it shouldn't even
  be reading

Status in kmod package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in systemd package in Ubuntu:
  Invalid
Status in kmod source package in Bionic:
  New
Status in systemd source package in Bionic:
  Invalid

Bug description:
  [impact]

  'man modules' claims that modules options can be provided in the
  /etc/modules file, but doing so causes systemd-modules-load.service to
  fail

  [test case]

  add a module with at least one option to the /etc/modules file and
  restart systemd-modules-load

  see original description for more detail and example of service
  failure

  [regression potential]

  as this only changes a manpage, any regression would likely be in
  incorrect information provided to users, or some regression occurring
  due to replacement of the man file or upgrading of the package

  [scope]

  This was fixed in Debian by
  https://salsa.debian.org/md/kmod/-/commit/676cb532b51be28cc19be6dd7fd8593ea5958e24

  This is fixed already in Ubuntu focal and later.

  [other info]

  as this is a manpage-only correction, if this is sru'ed it should use
  block-proposed-bionic, or just be bundled with a real bugfix.

  [original description]

  My systemd-modules-load.service fails to start like this:

  ● systemd-modules-load.service - Load Kernel Modules
     Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/systemd-modules-load.service; static; vendor preset: enabled)
     Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2020-10-27 10:24:52 PDT; 4s ago
       Docs: man:systemd-modules-load.service(8)
             man:modules-load.d(5)
    Process: 23683 ExecStart=/lib/systemd/systemd-modules-load (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
   Main PID: 23683 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

  Oct 27 10:24:52 octagon systemd[1]: Starting Load Kernel Modules...
  Oct 27 10:24:52 octagon systemd-modules-load[23683]: Failed to find module 'vfio vfio_iommu_type1 vfio_pci vfio_virqfd'
  Oct 27 10:24:52 octagon systemd[1]: systemd-modules-load.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
  Oct 27 10:24:52 octagon systemd[1]: systemd-modules-load.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
  Oct 27 10:24:52 octagon systemd[1]: Failed to start Load Kernel Modules.

  It looks like it's trying to interpret a whole module-and-arguments
  string as just a module name, and failing to load this.

  By recursive grep of /etc, the only place it can be getting that
  string is /etc/modules:

  $ sudo ag vfio_iommu_type1
  [sudo] password for anovak:
  modules
  5:vfio vfio_iommu_type1 vfio_pci vfio_virqfd

  The manpage for /etc/modules clearly says that the file may contain
  module names *and* arguments:

  [anovak at octagon ~]$ man modules | grep Arguments
         The /etc/modules file contains the names of kernel modules that are to be loaded at boot time, one per line. Arguments can be given in the same line as the module name. Lines beginning with a

  The manpage for systemd-modules-load.service doesn't mention
  /etc/modules, and says to see the manpage for modules-load.d(5). That
  manpage says that it only reads files from specific directories:

  SYNOPSIS
         /etc/modules-load.d/*.conf

         /run/modules-load.d/*.conf

         /usr/lib/modules-load.d/*.conf

  The manpage is clearly lying, and systemd-modules-load.service is
  clearly also reading /etc/modules. Moreover, it's misreading it, and
  not interpreting it according to the documented semantics of
  /etc/modules.

  I was induced to create an /etc/modules like this by
  https://mathiashueber.com/windows-virtual-machine-gpu-passthrough-
  ubuntu/ but I'm not sure that it's actually getting used by anything,
  because lsmod shows some but not all of the options I specified.

  [anovak at octagon etc]$ lsmod | grep "^vfio "
  vfio                   28672  2 vfio_iommu_type1,vfio_pci

  Can systemd be made to stop reading /etc/modules so that it doesn't
  report failure when it doesn't understand lines with options? And is
  that file being read by something else in the system, or should I just
  remove it as a workaround to stop upsetting systemd?

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
  Package: systemd 237-3ubuntu10.42
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.15.0-122.124-generic 4.15.18
  Uname: Linux 4.15.0-122-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
  ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.18
  Architecture: amd64
  CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
  Date: Tue Oct 27 10:33:50 2020
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-08-06 (1177 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 17.04 "Zesty Zapus" - Release amd64 (20170412)
  MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
  ProcEnviron:
   TERM=xterm-256color
   PATH=(custom, no user)
   XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
   SHELL=/bin/bash
  ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-122-generic root=UUID=5219a3ae-e14c-4f63-8f62-17cebc1af57a ro modprobe.blacklist=amdgpu usb_storage.quirks=0bc2:ab38: amd_iommu=on vfio-pci.ids=1002:67df
  SourcePackage: systemd
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2018-05-29 (882 days ago)
  dmi.bios.date: 12/08/2018
  dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
  dmi.bios.version: 4207
  dmi.board.asset.tag: Default string
  dmi.board.name: PRIME X370-PRO
  dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
  dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
  dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Default string
  dmi.chassis.type: 3
  dmi.chassis.vendor: Default string
  dmi.chassis.version: Default string
  dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr4207:bd12/08/2018:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnPRIMEX370-PRO:rvrRevX.0x:cvnDefaultstring:ct3:cvrDefaultstring:
  dmi.product.family: To be filled by O.E.M.
  dmi.product.name: System Product Name
  dmi.product.version: System Version
  dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer
  mtime.conffile..etc.systemd.journald.conf: 2018-05-28T15:25:25.223494
  mtime.conffile..etc.systemd.resolved.conf: 2017-09-24T15:57:22.768472

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