/etc/passwd userid issue

[JvD007]

Gentoo user prompt is wrong, Name is not from the local /etc/passwd.

dell@Innopad-01:~$ /cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/test/gentoo/2020/startprefix
Entering Gentoo Prefix /cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/test/gentoo/2020

henkjan@Innopad-01:~$
User is coming from /cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/test/gentoo/2020/etc/passwd.

I have no name!@Innopad-01:/mnt/c/Users/Innopad$

User is not in the /etc/passwd file coming from /cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/test/gentoo/2020/etc/passwd.

Can we use the local /etc/passwd file?

[boegel]

I used this (dirty) hack when installing stuff in the pilot repo:

getent passwd $(id -u) >> /cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/2020.08/compat/x86_64/etc/passwd

Of course that only works if you have write access to /cvmfs (for example via a writable overlay created with fuse-overlayfs).

Perhaps symlinking to the system /etc/passwd is a good idea, but I don't think that will be enough (no all user accounts are listed in /etc/passwd).

[bedroge]

Bart Oldeman suggested to make the following symlinks to resolve this (and other) issue(s):

etc/group -> /etc/group
etc/hosts -> /etc/hosts
etc/nsswitch.conf -> /etc/nsswitch.conf
etc/passwd -> /etc/passwd
etc/resolv.conf -> /etc/resolv.conf
var/lib/munge -> /var/lib/munge
var/lib/unbound -> /var/lib/unbound
var/lib/VirtualGL -> /var/lib/VirtualGL
var/log/munge -> /var/log/munge
var/log/wtmp -> /var/log/wtmp
var/run -> /var/run
var/spool -> /var/spool
var/tmp -> /var/tmp
lib64/libnss_centrifydc.so.2 -> /lib64/libnss_centrifydc.so.2
lib64/libnss_ldap.so.2 -> /lib64/libnss_ldap.so.2
lib64/libnss_sss.so.2 -> /lib64/libnss_sss.so.2
run/dbus -> /run/dbus
tmp -> /tmp

[boegel]

@bartoldeman Is there any documentation available on why each of these should be symlinked?

The only one I know why really is /etc/passwd (to make sure the local user accounts are known)...

[bartoldeman]

Many of these (the ones involving /var) I consider bugs in the gentoo prefix recipes, though it depends a bit on the use case.
So some packages could be compiled with --localstatedir=/var instead of --localstatedir=${EPREFIX}/var passed to configure to avoid some of the links.

Similarly for sysconfdir (/etc) but it depends a lot, some things in /etc are static (so can be in cvmfs), some are system dependent, etc.

Files like /var/log/wtmp and /var/run/utmp are written to by the system but read by utilities in the compatibility layer such as w, last and who. It's all been a bit of trial and error, and a bit of strace.

[bedroge]

This should be solved by #37 and #38 and. You can try it in the 2020.09 version of our pilot (/cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/2020.09/compat/x86_64).

[bedroge]

@JvD007 Could you test if this also solves the issue for you?

[JvD007]

How! like source /cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/2020.09/init/bash or......

[bedroge]

That doesn't work yet, but there is a startprefix that should allow you to test it:
/cvmfs/pilot.eessi-hpc.org/2020.09/compat/x86_64/startprefix

[JvD007]

Works

[boegel]

@bedroge OK to close this then?

[bedroge]

Yes, think so, though we may still need some more symlinks later on.