Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2024 01:23:51 -0700 From: "Dan Mahoney (Ports)" <freebsd@gushi.org> To: questions <questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Just lost a few hours playing with daemon(8) and trying to set a path in an rc.d script Message-ID: <8E35B5EC-0C32-4783-B169-1600C5B003A7@gushi.org>
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Hey there all, I=E2=80=99m answering my own question here, writing this in the hopes = that someone finds it in the future, in the archives. (xkcd.com/979 = <http://xkcd.com/979>; is relevant) Dyjob have a service (etherpad lite) that we start from rc.d, using = daemon, but it runs as an unprivileged user and needs a special PATH = (because npm wants to install and update its own modules. I hate this, = but this is the reality). Setting export NODE_PATH=3D$HOME/.node/lib/node_modules:$NODE_PATH as = part of the rc.d script was no problem. It stuck, but for some reason, = the PATH was not being set. I tried setting PATH n the user=E2=80=99s home directories and login = files, no dice. I tried setting PATH as part of etherpadlite_env in the rc script, no = dice. I even tried explicitly setting the path as part of the = etherpadlite_start() subroutine in the rc script. A printenv showed it = existing, but when the actual daemon command ran, it was erased. =3D=3D=3D I almost missed this bit in daemon.c, thinking it=E2=80=99s just an = error check. No, this is where daemon does it. if (setusercontext(NULL, pw, pw->pw_uid, LOGIN_SETALL) !=3D 0) { errx(1, "failed to set user environment"); } Turns out, it=E2=80=99s our old and almost never used friend, the login = capabilities database well at work. I had to define a custom = .login_conf for this user and modify the path there, thusly: me:\ :path=3D~/.node/bin /sbin /bin /usr/sbin /usr/bin /usr/local/sbin = /usr/local/bin: =3D=3D=3D The manpage for daemon(8) is silent on this, saying only: -u, --user user Login name of the user to execute the program under. Environment variables HOME, USER, and SHELL are set accordingly. = Requires adequate superuser privileges. Adding a single line that *mentions* login.conf would have saved me a = ton of time here, but because it mentions only HOME, USER, and SHELL, = the assumption was that everything else would be preserved. -Dan
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