FAI and portmapper problems

[Alexander Bugl]

Hi again!

> I just had a look add rpcinfo's manpage:
>  -p      Probe the portmapper on host, and print a list of all registered RPC
>  programs.  If host is not specified, it defaults to the value returned by
>  hostname(1).
> Does
>   - "hostname" work and
>   - resolve to the correct hostname or an IP address that is effectively
>     assigned to the client?

We already checked that, but for completeness (quark is the machine, and
it worked with the same machine some weeks ago ...):
quark:~# hostname
quark
quark:~# hostname -f
quark.cis.zmaw.de
quark:~# host quark
quark.cis.zmaw.de has address 136.172.80.22
quark:~# host 136.172.80.22
22.80.172.136.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer quark.cis.zmaw.de.

So everything looks fine ...

> > But there seem to be some problems with the portmapper: If I kill every
> > instance and try to restart it, it won't run:
> > :~# ps ax |grep portmap
> > 11531 pts/0    R+     0:00 grep portmap
> > :~# /etc/init.d/portmap start
> > Starting portmap daemon: portmap.
> > :~# ps ax |grep portmap
> > 13861 pts/0    S+     0:00 grep portmap
> Did you start it within the chroot (/tmp/target, by default)? 

I think we tested all 4 possibilities: stoping and starting the
portmapper inside and outside of the chroot -- no changes at all.

I also did some tests with the portmapper from unstable (tesing: 5-9 vs.
5-12, I think): I installed that verison in the nfsroot -- no change of
the behaviour.

During the installation I had no simple possibility to install the
unstable version, but after the installation finished, I tried that --
no change in behaviour.

A new idea is that there is missing a "dependency" (or recommendation or
suggestion) of the portmap package, which is fulfilled after successful
installation (the install client takes 5 times the normal installation
time, but boots after that without problems, and the portmapper seems to
run fine). But we have no clue where to look for ...
So maybe I should file a bug report in the Debian BTS?

If nothing else works, a workaround (or better a hack) would be to not
install the nis package in the package selection, but instead to write a
finishing script which installs nis and does the correct configuration.
But actually this is not what I want, as it seems like a real bug to me,
which was not there 2 weeks before. :(

So, any further suggestions? If not, I think I will file a bug report
and implement the workaround. :/

Best regards, Alex

-- 
Alexander Bugl,  Central IT Services, ZMAW
Max  Planck  Institute   for   Meteorology
Bundesstrasse 53, D-20146 Hamburg, Germany
tel +49-40-41173-351, fax -298, room PE042