GNU bug report logs - #36838
mcron leaves zombies around

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From: help-debbugs <at> gnu.org (GNU bug Tracking System)
To: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Cc: tracker <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#36838: closed (mcron leaves zombies around)
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2023 13:20:01 +0000

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Your message dated Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:19:06 -0400
with message-id <87zg3qlnzp.fsf <at> gmail.com>
and subject line Re: bug#36838: mcron leaves zombies around
has caused the debbugs.gnu.org bug report #36838,
regarding mcron leaves zombies around
to be marked as done.

(If you believe you have received this mail in error, please contact
help-debbugs <at> gnu.org.)


-- 
36838: https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=36838
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From: Robert Vollmert <rob <at> vllmrt.net>
To: bug-guix <at> gnu.org
Subject: mcron leaves zombies around
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2019 17:39:33 +0200

It seems that mcron doesn’t clean up after itself. I regularly see
some zombie processes around, presumably left over by each of my
two 15-minute cron jobs:

root     21285  0.0  0.3  24124  3248 ?        Ss   11:05   0:00 /gnu/store/mamwayq00mqs85kgs6ibww7xw6dy776s-mcron-1.1.1/bin/mcron /gnu/store/rdi71izz4d16v77hb8h2jks0s3q9zini-mcron-job /gnu/store/k7dn1v7qpi4kz183glmbgsf1c7pj19xx-mcron-job /gnu/store/lfyj23bzhc14y5rqi91g493jql9dphxk-mcron-job /gnu/store/mx9k5n92kmhryn3vh4607hrmnkjb8dl6-mcron-job /gnu/store/l4nxmajr0i5g07fxvrgnaw29zd1jq0qw-mcron-job
root     26611  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    17:29   0:00 [mcron] <defunct>
root     26612  0.0  0.0      0     0 ?        Z    17:29   0:00 [mcron] <defunct>

In case that matters, they’re defined using the following:

(define puzzledb-tweets-pzv-job
  (let* ((exp
          (with-imported-modules '((helpers))
            #~(begin
                (use-modules (helpers))
                (let ((backend (read-secret "tools.jwt"))
                      (twitter (read-secret "twitter.token")))
                  (runl (string-append #$puzzledb-tools "/bin/tweets")
                        "-backend_token" backend
                        "-token" twitter
                        "-deletes")))))
         (script (program-file "puzzledb-tweets-pzv-job" exp)))
    #~(job "*/15 * * * *" ; every fifteen minutes
           #$script)))

where the module helpers contains:

(define-module (helpers)
  #:use-module (ice-9 textual-ports)
  #:export (runl read-secret))

(define* (runl prog . args)
  (apply execl prog prog args))

(define* (read-secret file)
  (string-trim-both
    (get-string-all
      (open-input-file
        (string-append "/etc/puzzledb/secrets/" file)))))

[Message part 3 (message/rfc822, inline)]

From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: 36838-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Leo Prikler <leo.prikler <at> student.tugraz.at>
Subject: Re: bug#36838: mcron leaves zombies around
Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2023 09:19:06 -0400

Hi,

Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Leo,
>
> Leo Prikler <leo.prikler <at> student.tugraz.at> writes:
>
>> Hi Maxim,
>>
>> I still have a defunct mcron flying around with a fairly standard Guix
>> configuration.  The only service running through mcron seems to be
>> rottlog-service-type.
>
> If you have the energy/bandwidth, would you mind trying this patch here:
> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-mcron/2021-08/msg00008.html; it
> may have positive side-effects in that regard, I believe.
>
> I've modified the mcron package to use a local checkout in my system
> config like so:
>
> @@ -2,7 +2,14 @@
>  ;;; RAID-1c3 storage bay.
>  (use-modules (gnu)
>               (guix modules)
> -             (srfi srfi-1))
> +             (srfi srfi-1)
> +             ;; for mcron experiment
> +             (gnu packages autotools)
> +             (gnu packages guile-xyz)
> +             (gnu packages man)
> +             (gnu packages texinfo)
> +             (guix git)
> +             (guix packages))
>  
>  (use-service-modules admin desktop docker linux mail mcron networking nfs nix
>                       spice ssh sysctl telephony virtualization vpn xorg)
> @@ -196,6 +203,15 @@
>          (pam-limits-entry "@realtime" 'both 'memlock 'unlimited)))
>        (service mcron-service-type
>                 (mcron-configuration
> +                (mcron (package/inherit mcron
> +                         (source (git-checkout
> +                                  (url "file:///home/maxim/src/mcron")))
> +                         (native-inputs (append
> +                                         `(("autoconf" ,autoconf)
> +                                           ("automake" ,automake)
> +                                           ("help2man" ,help2man)
> +                                           ("texinfo" ,texinfo))
> +                                         (package-native-inputs mcron)))))
>                  (jobs (list duckdns-job
>                              backup-home-job
>
>
> The output is now annotated as:
>
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: mail: Cannot open mailer: No such file or directory
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: mail: cannot send message: No such file or directory
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: mail: Cannot open mailer: No such file or directory
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: mail: cannot send message: No such file or directory
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: mail: Cannot open mailer: No such file or directory
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: mail: cannot send message: No such file or directory
> 2021-08-25T00:01:34 /gnu/store/xcngj8vg5j8g54r3aqm71vbgsgrsjl31-rottlog-0.72.2/sbin/rottlog: completed in 93.625s
> 2021-08-25T00:05:00 duckdns-update: running...
> 2021-08-25T00:05:01 duckdns-update: completed in 0.519s
>
> And I don't have any mcron zombie process lying around, unless I'm
> reading the ps output wrong.

It's been a while and I haven't seen this problem myself in all this
time; closing.  Do reopen if you encounter it or better yet, have a
reproducer for it.

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim

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