[CentOS] Problem with xen on Centos-4.4?

On Mon, 2007-01-22 at 09:48 -0500, James B. Byrne wrote:
> I am running a Xen installation on a Centos-4.4 based test box, my desktop
> unit, and I am having intermittent problems installing certain pieces of
> software.  Some time back I posted to this list regarding my inability to
> install Adobe Acrobat on this unit and was advised to essentially
> repackage the software and try again.  This is beyond my present means of
> knowledge or time to acquire same and so left undone.
> 
> Now however I am having remarkably similar problems with two official
> Centos-4.4 updates, xorg-x11-xfs and openssh-server.  Can anybody give me
> some clues as to what is going on and how I might correct this.  I am sure
> that xen is involved in this somehow because I run four other servers with
> Centos-4.4 and none of them have displayed this problem.
> 
> This is what I am seeing when trying to update via yum:
> 
> --->
> 
> # yum update openssh-server -y
> Setting up Update Process
> Setting up repositories
> Reading repository metadata in from local files
> Reducing Dag Wieers RPM Repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linux to
> included packages only
> Finished
> Reducing CentOS-4 Testing to included packages only
> Finished
> Reducing CentOS-4 - Plus to included packages only
> Finished
> Resolving Dependencies
> --> Populating transaction set with selected packages. Please wait.
> ---> Package openssh-server.i386 0:3.9p1-8.RHEL4.17.1 set to be updated
> --> Running transaction check
> 
> Dependencies Resolved
> 
> =============================================================================
>  Package                 Arch       Version          Repository        Size
> =============================================================================
> Updating:
>  openssh-server          i386       3.9p1-8.RHEL4.17.1  update           
> 208 k
> 
> Transaction Summary
> =============================================================================
> Install      0 Package(s)
> Update       1 Package(s)
> Remove       0 Package(s)
> Total download size: 208 k
> Downloading Packages:
> Running Transaction Test
> Finished Transaction Test
> Transaction Test Succeeded
> Running Transaction
> error: %pre(openssh-server-3.9p1-8.RHEL4.17.1.i386) scriptlet failed, exit
> status 255
> error:   install: %pre scriptlet failed (2), skipping
> openssh-server-3.9p1-8.RHEL4.17.1
> 
> Updated: openssh-server.i386 0:3.9p1-8.RHEL4.17.1
> Complete!
> 
> 
> 
> # yum update xorg-x11-xfs
> Setting up Update Process
> Setting up repositories
> dag                       100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00
> centos-test               100% |=========================|  951 B    00:00
> update                    100% |=========================|  951 B    00:00
> base                      100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00
> centosplus                100% |=========================|  951 B    00:00
> addons                    100% |=========================|  951 B    00:00
> extras                    100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00
> Reading repository metadata in from local files
> primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================| 1.2 MB    00:27
> dag       : ################################################## 5225/5225
> Added 57 new packages, deleted 376 old in 7.53 seconds
> primary.xml.gz            100% |=========================|  32 kB    00:00
> extras    : ################################################## 124/124
> Added 0 new packages, deleted 0 old in 0.15 seconds
> Reducing Dag Wieers RPM Repository for Red Hat Enterprise Linux to
> included packages only
> Finished
> Reducing CentOS-4 Testing to included packages only
> Finished
> Reducing CentOS-4 - Plus to included packages only
> Finished
> Resolving Dependencies
> --> Populating transaction set with selected packages. Please wait.
> ---> Package xorg-x11-xfs.i386 0:6.8.2-1.EL.13.37.5 set to be updated
> --> Running transaction check
> 
> Dependencies Resolved
> 
> =============================================================================
>  Package                 Arch       Version          Repository        Size
> =============================================================================
> Updating:
>  xorg-x11-xfs            i386       6.8.2-1.EL.13.37.5  update           
> 315 k
> 
> Transaction Summary
> =============================================================================
> Install      0 Package(s)
> Update       1 Package(s)
> Remove       0 Package(s)
> Total download size: 315 k
> Is this ok [y/N]: y
> Downloading Packages:
> Running Transaction Test
> Finished Transaction Test
> Transaction Test Succeeded
> Running Transaction
> error: %pre(xorg-x11-xfs-6.8.2-1.EL.13.37.5.i386) scriptlet failed, exit
> status 255
> error:   install: %pre scriptlet failed (2), skipping
> xorg-x11-xfs-6.8.2-1.EL.13.37.5
> 

You need to figure out what about the pre script is failing ... here is
what is contained in the pre script:

rpm -q --scripts openssh-server

and

rpm -q --scripts xorg-x11-xfs

Then look at the preinstall sections (which looks like what is failing).
It seems that the code in question is (for openssh):
------------------------------------------------------
preinstall scriptlet (using /bin/sh):
/usr/sbin/useradd -c "Privilege-separated SSH" -u 74 \
        -s /sbin/nologin -r -d /var/empty/sshd sshd 2> /dev/null || :
------------------------------------------------------


and for xorg-x11-xfs:
------------------------------------------------------
preinstall scriptlet (using /bin/sh):
{
  # Conditionalized to work on RHL 7.1 and 7.2 which do not
have /sbin/nologin
  LOGINSHELL=$([ -e /sbin/nologin ] && echo /sbin/nologin ||
echo /bin/false)
  /usr/sbin/useradd -c "X Font Server" -r -s $LOGINSHELL -u 43 -
d /etc/X11/fs xfs || :
} &> /dev/null || : # Silence output, and ignore errors (Bug #91822)

------------------------------------------------------

There are a couple things in common here ..

1.  They both use useradd ... make sure root can do that where you are
getting the error.

2.  Both commands direct output to /dev/null ... make sure that exists
in the place the installs are happening.

IF this was a chroot and not xen, I would recommend that you ensure that
selinux was off in the chroot ... maybe the same applies inside xen
clients (I am not sure about that).

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