kernel 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE and akmods problem

[DBelton]

I just had an odd problem.

I updated to the 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE kernel from 2.6.32.11-99.fc12.i686.PAE.

akmods ran fine with the 2.6.32.11-99.fc12.i686.PAE kernel and built my nvidia kmods perfectly when I rebooted my system.

However, when I updated to the 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE kernel, when I rebooted, I got an error that the akmod build failed.

looking through the log files for akmodsbuild, all I get was an error that it can't be run as root, to run as a normal user or akmodsbuild. tried running as a normal user, still get the same error.

The only thing I can figure out is that the new kernel changed something, but haven't a clue as to what.

I did manage to kludge a workaround and get my kmod built by editing the akmodsbuild script and commenting out the root user check, but that's not a fix.

my workaround was to comment out the following lines. maybe someone has a clue as to what changed in the new kernel. even when I was getting errors in the new kernel, I was able to run it under an old kernel with no errors.

## startup checks
# prevent root-usage
if [[ -w / ]]; then
echo "ERROR: Not to be used as root; start as user or '${myprog}' instead." >&2
exit 1
fi

[JEO]

I just tried it with the i686 (non PAE) kernel and it worked here. The command I used to update was:

yum --enablerepo=updates-testing update kernel*

Excerpt from above command:

  Updating       : kernel-firmware-2.6.32.11-102.fc12.noarch                1/8 
  Installing     : kernel-devel-2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686                     2/8 
  Installing     : kernel-2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686                           3/8 
  Updating       : kernel-headers-2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686                   4/8 
  Erasing        : kmod-ndiswrapper-2.6.31.12-174.2.3.fc12.i686-1.54-4.fc   5/8 
  Cleanup        : kernel-2.6.31.12-174.2.3.fc12.i686                       6/8 
  Cleanup        : kernel-headers-2.6.32.11-99.fc12.i686                    7/8 
  Cleanup        : kernel-firmware-2.6.32.11-99.fc12.noarch                 8/8

Excerpt from akmods.log:

16 Apr 00:11:59 akmods: Checking kmods exist for 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686
16 Apr 00:11:59 akmods: Building and installing nvidia-kmod
16 Apr 00:11:59 akmods: Building RPM using the command '/usr/bin/akmodsbuild --target i686 --kernels 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686 /usr/src/akmods/nvidia-kmod.latest'
16 Apr 00:12:42 akmods: Installing newly built rpms
16 Apr 00:12:47 akmods: Successful.

[DBelton]

I am hoping my problem with it was due to me removing files in /tmp, because that is the only thing I have done to this install of F12 other than apply updates with yum.

Other than the /tmp files, I haven't done anything else to that system. And it was really strange that the previous kernel worked fine, even at the same time the new kernel errored out.

Are there any files that I could have accidently deleted that would have caused akmodsbuild to error out with the root user error? Seems like if I had messed with the wrong files, I would have gotten the ssame error when I tried to build the akmod for the previous kernel as well.

But, as I said, I was able to kludge around and get the akmod built by commenting out the root user check then running /usr/sbin/akmods --force

would like to find what my problem was so it doesn't happen again when I update my kernel. (I only changed the /usr/bin/akmodsbuild script temporarily, it's now back as it was originally)

btw, doesn't it run as root user when it runs at system boot time?

[JEO]

You should be able to remove everything that is in /tmp, however you should not be using the system at the time. In other words, nothing should be accessing anything in /tmp at the time of the removal. A good way to do this is to boot into single user mode, or boot from a livecd or rescue cd then remove the files. If you are removing files while the system is actually using them you could lose system functionality, so it is possible it could cause a symptom like you observed.

[DBelton]

I removed the /tmp files at the very end of system shutdown, right before it unmounted the filesystem, so I can't see how anything could have been using those files.

What was interesting about the akmodsbuild problem was that it gave the same error, can't run as root even when run as a regular user.

I did notice too that when it did work, I got a few errors in the log stating that user mockbuild didn't exist, running as root. I had been seeing those ever since I installed akmods, though.

[JEO]

Could be selinux blocking something? Try it with setenforce 0

Other than that, I really don't know what would cause it, but the kernel is unlikely.

[DBelton]

kernel is the only thing different from when it works and when it doesn't.

I boot into the previous 2.6.32.11-99.fc12.i686.PAE and everything works as it should.

boot into the 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE kernel and akmodsbuild errors out with the can't run as root error.

same selinux permissions, same enforcing, nothing else changed but boot different kernels.

plus, the error was getting is the one that the akmodsbuild script puts out for the root user check. It would see any user I ran it under as root and kick out that error.

Just out of curiosity, what user is logged in during system boot when it builds the akmods if needed?

[JEO]

I went ahead and tried it for the PAE kernel: it worked.

18 Apr 06:15:40 akmods: Checking kmods exist for 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE
18 Apr 06:15:40 akmods: Building and installing nvidia-kmod
18 Apr 06:15:40 akmods: Building RPM using the command '/usr/bin/akmodsbuild --target i686 --kernels 2.6.32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE /usr/src/akmods/nvidia-kmod.latest'
18 Apr 06:16:39 akmods: Installing newly built rpms
18 Apr 06:16:41 akmods: Successful.

The akmods seems to run at the time I installed the kernel-PAE and kernel-PAE-devel using yum. So at least yum is running as root.

[DBelton]

That what I can't figure out. I thought that root user was normally the one that builds the akmods, so why would akmodsbuild have that check in there to disallow root from running it?

Or does it switch users or something? maybe that's what was messed up on my system?

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 06:34 PM CDT ----------

just to update.. I still have this same error with the 32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE kernel. fails trying to build the akmod. bypass the root user check and it works perfectly.

Anyone else having this problem? Or have I hosed something in my akmods someplace? I did a yum remove and then a yum install on the akmod packages, but still the same thing.

Boot into kernels previous to 32.11-99.fc12.i686.PAE and they build perfectly without the workaround in akmodsbuild to bypass the root user check. but from 32.11-102.fc12.i686.PAE on they fail.

[JEO]

Just a thought. You never mentioned kernel-PAE-devel. Did you remember to install it for that kernel?

[DBelton]

yes, the kernel-PAE-devel, kernel-headers, kernel-firmware are installed for all kernel version I have installed.

If they had not been installed, I would not have been able to build the akmod even after bypassing the root user check in akmodsbuild.

Somehow either the akmod build process is supposed to switch to another user and build and my system is failing to switch users properly, or something is fubar in the user check.

akmodsbuild gives me the error that it can't be run as root even if I try and start it as a regular user, so it looks like something is fubar in the user check someplace.

and I am assuming it is something unique to my system because I haven't seen everyone yelling and screaming like they would if this was a widespread problem.

---------- Post added at 10:30 PM CDT ---------- Previous post was at 10:02 PM CDT ----------

Here is the log from yum where it updated the kernels:

Apr 21 20:37:29 tower15 yum: Updated: kernel-firmware-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.noarch
Apr 21 20:38:13 tower15 yum: Updated: kernel-headers-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686
Apr 21 20:39:23 tower15 dbus: Reloaded configuration
Apr 21 20:44:29 tower15 yum: Installed: kernel-PAE-devel-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686
Apr 21 20:47:23 tower15 yum: Installed: kernel-PAE-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686
Apr 21 20:50:46 tower15 init: Re-executing /sbin/init
Apr 21 20:51:08 tower15 dbus: Reloaded configuration
Apr 21 20:51:08 tower15 dbus: Reloaded configuration
Apr 21 20:51:13 tower15 yum: Updated: setroubleshoot-server-2.2.72-1.fc12.i686
Apr 21 20:51:13 tower15 auditd[1411]: config change requested by pid=360 auid=500 subj=unconfined_u:system_r:initrc_t:s0
Apr 21 20:51:13 tower15 auditd[1411]: audit(1271901073.936:7231) config changed, auid=500 pid=360 subj=unconfined_u:system_r:initrc_t:s0 res=success

and the entries from akmods.log:

21 Apr 20:59:46 akmods: Checking kmods exist for 2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: Building and installing nvidia-173xx-kmod
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: Building RPM using the command '/usr/bin/akmodsbuild --target i686 --kernels 2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE /usr/src/akmods/nvidia-173xx-kmod.latest'
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: Building rpms failed; see /var/cache/akmods/nvidia-173xx/173.14.25-1-for-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE.failed.log for details
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: Hint: Some kmods were ignored or failed to build or install.
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: You can try to rebuild and install them by by calling
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: '/usr/sbin/akmods --force' as root.

and 173.14.25-1-for-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE.failed.log

21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: Building RPM using the command '/usr/bin/akmodsbuild --target i686 --kernels 2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE /usr/src/akmods/nvidia-173xx-kmod.latest'
ERROR: Not to be used as root; start as user or 'akmodsbuild' instead.
21 Apr 20:59:49 akmods: Building rpms failed; see /var/cache/akmods/nvidia-173xx/173.14.25-1-for-2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE.failed.log for details

And akmods.log after I commented out the root user check in akmodsbuild:

21 Apr 21:18:58 akmods: Checking kmods exist for 2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE
21 Apr 21:18:58 akmods: Building and installing nvidia-173xx-kmod
21 Apr 21:18:58 akmods: Building RPM using the command '/usr/bin/akmodsbuild --target i686 --kernels 2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE /usr/src/akmods/nvidia-173xx-kmod.latest'
21 Apr 21:20:05 akmods: Installing newly built rpms
21 Apr 21:20:23 akmods: Successful.
21 Apr 21:22:16 akmods: Checking kmods exist for 2.6.32.11-104.fc12.i686.PAE

[JEO]

Have a look in /var/cache/akmods/nvidia

All of my kmod-nvidia and log files there are owned by root. In fact, if you look at /usr/sbin/akmods in a text editor (which calls /usr/bin/akmodsbuild) there is a root check there because it has to be root to install the rpm. I am not sure how they are going from checking for having write permisions to the root filesystem in akmods to checking for not having it in akmodsbuild. Maybe ask this question in the programming section to get a scripter to look at it.

[DBelton]

That's the same on mine. /usr/sbin/akmods has to run as root, yet /usr/bin/akmodsbuild has a check in it to prevent it running as root.

This seems really strange, but it has worked for me in the past, and seems to be working for others. I have a feeling that something else got hosed on my system that is causing the problem with the akmod build. I may just keep my workaround in there until I upgrade to Fedora 13 since it won't be too much longer till it's released and I usually do clean installs so it will fix the problem.

Thanks for your time and ideas, JEO