Ubuntu 12.04: after installing and reboot, /var/appliance/dialog.sh fails in a loop on system startup.

[trevorwagner]

If I install NetSUS under a clean installation of Ubuntu LTS Server 12.04, then reboot the machine, I observe upon reboot that a loop occurs where /var/appliance/dialog.sh posts (and repeats) an error message (that the command "dialog" was not found):

/var/appliances/dialog.sh: 21: /var/appliances/dialog.sh: dialog: not found

When this happens, I'm observing that the system is still responsive (and that I can connect to the system via SSH and issue commands). When I evaluate currently running processes with top, though, I'm observing that dialog.sh occupies 99.9% of the system CPU.

If I'm correct, this appears to occur because dialog is not installed by default in Ubuntu LTS Server 12.04. See my notes (below) for more information.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Run a clean installation of Ubuntu LTS Server 12.04. Make sure all available updates have been applied with aptitude.
2. Per the instructions in the User Guide, install NetSUS from the standalone installer.
3. Reboot the system. Once the system reboots (while the OS is loading), note the output that displays on the screen.

Notes

I'm only observing this under Ubuntu LTS Server 12.04. I'm not observing it at all under LTS Server 10.04, and I'm not reproducing it under CentOS 6.5. I do not currently have a copy of RHEL 6.4 (or later) that I can test this with.

If I install the package dialog (# apt-get install dialog) between steps 1 and 2 in my steps to reproduce, I'm able to follow the rest of the STR without reproducing this behavior.

In the interest of full disclosure (and regardless of whether it seems related), there were three things in my runtime environment that were exceptions to a 100% clean installation:

• I am using static IP (and not DHCP) in my network configuration.
• I have the ssh package installed (and sshd running).
• When installing the system I elected not to use LVM (I used a traditional HD configuration).

It also might be worth noting that I reproduced this in a VirtualBox (v 4.3.10 r93012) virtual machine, with a host machine running under OS X 10.9.1.

[jschripsema]

Hello. Would you mind posting your log file, /var/appliance/logs/applianceinstaller.log? There is a line to install 'dialog' during installation using apt-get already. Two things that might block this:
Are you making sure to either run the installer as root or use sudo?
Do you have a proxy that either needs to be setup or you need to authenticate to in order to use apt-get?

[trevorwagner]

/var/appliance/logs/applianceinstaller.log

[2014-05-09 14:14:23]: Starting the NetSUS Installation
[2014-05-09 14:14:23]: Checking installation requirements...
[2014-05-09 14:14:23]: Checking for a supported OS...
[2014-05-09 14:14:23]:
[2014-05-09 14:14:23]: Checking for a 64-bit OS...
[2014-05-09 14:14:23]: OK
[2014-05-09 14:14:23]: Passed all requirements checking!
[2014-05-09 14:14:43]: Installing...
[2014-05-09 14:14:44]: Starting Web Application Installation
[2014-05-09 14:14:44]: Restarting apache...
[2014-05-09 14:14:44]: OK
[2014-05-09 14:14:44]: Finished deploying the appliance web application
[2014-05-09 14:14:44]: Starting NetBoot Installation
dhcpd: no process found
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: OK
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: Finished deploying NetBoot
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: Starting SUS Installation
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: OK
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: Finished deploying the appliance web application
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]:
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: The NetSUS has been installed.
[2014-05-09 14:14:45]: If you are upgrading NetSUS, you can simply start using it.

Sorry for the copy-paste: I tried uploading the log file but github wouldn't let me.

If it helps, here's a screenshot that of what it looks like in OS X Console:

Not sure if there is a better way to do this.

If it helps at all to clarify, what I've posted here is the log generated when I run the installer with the 3.0 installer linked to from the front page: http://jamfsoftware-content.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/NetSUS_3.0.run

[trevorwagner]

Hi, jschripsema-

Thanks for the questions.

Would you mind posting your log file, /var/appliance/logs/applianceinstaller.log?

No problem. I posted this above, in my last comment.

Are you making sure to either run the installer as root or use sudo?

I’m running the installer as a non-root user with sudo.

Here is the full set of commands I’m using to download and run the installer:

$ mkdir ~/Downloads
$ cd ~/Downloads
$ wget "http://jamfsoftware-content.s3.amazonaws.com/downloads/NetSUS_3.0.run”
$ for i in {755,'o+x'}; do sudo chmod "$i" NetSUS_3.0.run; done
$ sudo ./NetSUS_3.0.run

I’m running all of this as a one-liner (with commands separated by semicolons).

If it helps, here is what I’m selecting at the prompts, during installer runtime:

Standalone?  (y/n): y
Proceed?  (y/n): y

Do you have a proxy that either needs to be setup or you need to authenticate to in order to use apt-get?

I don’t use a proxy server at all. I’m reproducing this with VirtualBox VMs, so if it helps, I’m not using proxies either on my guest systems or on my host system. My network setup is what you’d expect from most SOHO networks (e.g. if I bought a router from Best Buy, connected it to my cable modem, and used default settings).

AFAIK I do not need to authenticate in order to use apt-get. For example: if I run either apt-get update or apt-get dist-upgrade (again: with sudo), apt-get performs the expected actions once I enter a password for sudo.

I found a command on line 21 of NetSUS/webadmin/webadminInstall.sh that it looks like might be expected

If I run this command manually (omitting the redirect of output to $logFile) on the machine I’m reproducing this with, I’m able to install dialog successfully. If it helps, here's what this looks like in the command prompt:

$ sudo apt-get -qq -y install dialog
[sudo] password for user: 
Selecting previously unselected package dialog.
(Reading database ... 55694 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../dialog_1.2-20130928-1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking dialog (1.2-20130928-1) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.6.7.1-1) ...
Setting up dialog (1.2-20130928-1) …

I hope this helps. Thanks.

-Trevor

On May 9, 2014, at 1:46 PM, jschripsema notifications@github.com wrote:

Hello. Would you mind posting your log file, /var/appliance/logs/applianceinstaller.log? There is a line to install 'dialog' during installation using apt-get already. Two things that might block this:
Are you making sure to either run the installer as root or use sudo?
Do you have a proxy that either needs to be setup or you need to authenticate to in order to use apt-get?

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

[trevorwagner]

Sorry: it looks like my markdown didn't go through well in email. If there's any of this I can clarify, please let me know.

[jschripsema]

Unable to reproduce. Maybe your install log will give some insight as to why your install failed. /var/log/apt/history.log
Please make sure you're installing the drivers/tools and restarting after package upgrading. Also, you may have a network issue causing downloads to fail.

Steps Used to Attempt to Reproduce:

1. Install minimal Ubuntu 12.04. No extra packages, just base install.
2. Resynchronize package index. sudo apt-get update
3. Install Drivers/Tools - Actual steps will vary, but make sure you're installing your hypervisor specific tools or physical hardware device drivers.
   • Install Parallels Tools (I'm testing with Parallels, but other hypervisors have similar options)
   • sudo mount /dev/cdrom /media
   • sudo /media/install
   • Restart
4. Install newest versions of installed packages. sudo apt-get upgrade
5. Restart. sudo shutdown -r now
6. Install OpenSSH to allow transfer of installer. sudo apt-get install openssh-client openssh-server
7. Use scp to transfer installer from a different computer. scp NetSUSInstaller.run user@ip-address:~/
8. Run installer sudo ~/NetSUSInstaller.run
9. Installer finishes without errors. Accessible using web interface.
10. which dialog
    • /usr/bin/dialog

[StevenStrand]

Closed as unable to reproduce.