dbus no longer supports Upstart service activation

Bug #1238514 reported by James Hunt
14
This bug affects 2 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
dbus (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

In certain areas, Ubuntu Touch needs to use D-Bus activation to start Upstart jobs.

= Overview =

This bug is for tracking the re-enabling of Upstart service activation in D-Bus.

In certain areas, Ubuntu Touch needs to use D-Bus activation to start Upstart jobs. The version of D-Bus in Ubuntu no longer supports Upstart service activation which has resulted in work-arounds being introduced for Touch that attempt to simulate proper service activation with varying degrees of success.

= Background =

D-Bus in Ubuntu used to support Upstart service activation. The lp:ubuntu/dbus logs shows that it was added in r112:

revno: 112 [merge]
fixes bug: https://launchpad.net/bugs/1014850
author: Sebastien Bacher <email address hidden>, Iain Lane
committer: Package Import Robot <email address hidden>
branch nick: quantal
timestamp: Fri 2012-08-03 14:05:38 +0200
message:
  * Upload to quantal (lp: #1014850)
  * debian/control:
    - use "Breaks: unity-services (<< 6.0.0-0ubuntu6)", the new dbus
      eavedropping protection was creating issues with previous versions

  [ Iain Lane ]
  * Merge with Debian experimental for the new stable series. Remaining Ubuntu
    changes:
    - Install binaries into / rather than /usr:
      + debian/rules: Set --exec-prefix=/
      + debian/dbus.install, debian/dbus-x11.install: Install from /bin
    - Use upstart to start:
      + Add debian/dbus.upstart.
      + debian/control: Add upstart dependency.
      + debian/dbus.postinst: Use upstart call instead of invoking the init.d
        script for checking if we are already running.
      + debian/control: versioned dependency on netbase that emits the new
        deconfiguring-networking event used in upstart script.
    - 20_system_conf_limit.patch: Increase max_match_rules_per_connection for
      the system bus to 5000 (LP #454093)
    - 81-session.conf-timeout.patch: Raise the service startup timeout from 25
      to 60 seconds. It may be too short on the live CD with slow machines.
    - Add 0001-activation-allow-for-more-variation-than-just-system.patch,
      0002-bus-change-systemd-activation-to-activation-systemd.patch,
      0003-upstart-add-upstart-as-a-possible-activation-type.patch,
      0004-upstart-add-UpstartJob-to-service-desktop-files.patch,
      0005-activation-implement-upstart-activation.patch: Patches from Scott
      James Remnant to implement Upstart service activation. Not upstream.
      Disable patches since they do not apply and this facility is unused
      anyway.
  * Remove systemd BDs; not appropriate for Ubuntu.

At some point [1], the lp:ubuntu/dbus branch lost the ability to support Upstart service activation [2] as the patches were dropped.

[1] - Can't find out exactly when since lp:ubuntu/dbus is not current:

        Most recent Ubuntu version: 1.6.12-0ubuntu8
        Packaging branch version: 1.6.12-0ubuntu1
        Packaging branch status: OUT-OF-DATE

[2] - See debian/patches/series Where the following patches are commented out:

      0001-activation-allow-for-more-variation-than-just-system.patch
      0002-bus-change-systemd-activation-to-activation-systemd.patch
      0003-upstart-add-upstart-as-a-possible-activation-type.patch
      0004-upstart-add-UpstartJob-to-service-desktop-files.patch
      0005-activation-implement-upstart-activation.patch

= Plan =

The existing patches may need slight rework to apply now. It would be highly preferable if upstream D-Bus merge Upstart service activation since dbus-daemon already provides a '--systemd-activation' option.

However, the ideal would be a consistent and generic service activation approach which does not require hard-coding particular init daemon names anywhere.

= References =

- https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=34526
- http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/dbus/2010-December/013868.html

Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in dbus (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Ted Gould (ted) wrote :

I know there's an "affects you" button at the top, but I still wanted to add a +1 to landing this :-)

To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.