Public bug reported:
This bug applies to both Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04, the two distros
I've checked.
This is likely a packaging error. The cups-pk-helper user appears in
/etc/passwd as:
cups-pk-helper:x:111:118:user for cups-pk-helper service,,,:/home/cups-
pk-helper:/usr/sbin/nologin
Of course there is no directory /home/cups-pk-helper. This appears
innocuous, but can cause problems for users that have, say autofs
mounted home directories. To cite one example, the python virtual
environment anaconda trolls through /etc/passwd looking for environments
in /home/USER. This triggers autofs to try and mount /home/cups-pk--
helper, which doesn't exist, causing the automounter to hang under
certain circumstances. In, for example, Arch linux, this entry would
appear as the considerably more sensible
cups-pk-helper:x:111:118:user for cups-pk-helper
service,,,:/:/usr/sbin/nologin
While an edge case in the current compute environment, this is also a
very easy fix. Don't reference non-existent directories. Many Ubuntu
packages make this packaging error when creating local users with non-
existent home directories; e.g. syslog.
** Affects: cups-pk-helper (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: New
** Description changed:
This bug applies to both Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04, the two distros
I've checked.
This is likely a packaging error. The cups-pk-helper user appears in
/etc/passwd as:
cups-pk-helper:x:111:118:user for cups-pk-helper service,,,:/home/cups-
pk-helper:/usr/sbin/nologin
Of course there is no directory /home/cups-pk-helper. This appears
innocuous, but can cause problems for users that have, say autofs
mounted home directories. To cite one example, the python virtual
- environment anaconda trolls through /etc/passw looking for environments
+ environment anaconda trolls through /etc/passwd looking for environments
in /home/USER. This triggers autofs to try and mount /home/cups-pk--
- helper, which doesn't existing, causing the automounter to hang under
+ helper, which doesn't exist, causing the automounter to hang under
certain circumstances. In, for example, Arch linux, this entry would
appear as the considerably more sensible
cups-pk-helper:x:111:118:user for cups-pk-helper
service,,,:/:/usr/sbin/nologin
While an edge case in the current compute environment, this is also a
very easy fix. Don't reference non-existent directories. Many Ubuntu
packages make this packaging error when creating local users with non-
existent home directories; e.g. syslog.
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1898754
Title:
Non-existent home directory entry in /etc/passwd
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