# ivman broke, "couldn't drop root privileges" [SOLVED]

## gnychis

Hey guys,

I did an emerge --update world the other night, and i dont know if ivman updated, or if udev updated or if hal updated.... but one of them updated and broke ivman

ivman used to run fine, but now everytime i try to start it as root or user:

```

monster hedpe # ivman

manager.c:1340 (do_startup_configure) Directory /etc/ivman/ will be used for configuration files.

manager.c:259 (set_mount_command) No mount command was specified in IvmConfigBase.xml.  Ivman will try to automatically detect the command to use. If Ivman incorrectly detects the program(s) available on your system, first make sure the program(s) are in the default shell PATH, then please report it as a bug.

manager.c:291 (set_mount_command) pmount-hal detection skipped, as we are a root instance of Ivman.  pmount-hal is only used for user instances.

manager.c:333 (set_mount_command) pmount accepts -u <umask>

manager.c:336 (set_mount_command) pmount was found on your system. It will be used for mounting.

manager.c:768 (ivm_run_command) Running: echo 0 > /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/lock

manager.c:1387 (main) ivman 0.6.9, http:/ivman.sourceforge.net

manager.c:1392 (main) Compiled against HAL 0.5.x or later

manager.c:1396 (main) Running in system mode.

daemonize.c:123 (dropPrivileges) Can't drop privileges, user not specified.

manager.c:1417 (main) Couldn't drop privileges, exiting!

```

Here are my versions:

```

monster hedpe # emerge udev hal ivman -pv

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!

[ebuild   R   ] sys-fs/udev-079-r1  (-selinux) 0 kB 

[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/hal-0.5.5.1-r3  -acpi -debug -doc -pam_console -pcmcia (-selinux) 0 kB 

[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/ivman-0.6.9  -debug 0 kB 

```

I also tried ivman-0.6.8 (unmasked version) and it has the same problem.  I have no updates pending in etc-update either.

Thanks!

GeorgeLast edited by gnychis on Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:58 am; edited 1 time in total

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## spatil

Hi All,

I'm having exactly the same problem.  Can anybody help?!

Siddharth

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## gnychis

it seems as though, etc-update should have caught a change in one of the configuration files, but it doesn't

rm -fr /etc/ivman

then run ivman as root, it'll recreate the configuration files and run without a problem

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## JeliJami

 *gnychis wrote:*   

> it seems as though, etc-update should have caught a change in one of the configuration files, but it doesn't
> 
> rm -fr /etc/ivman
> 
> then run ivman as root, it'll recreate the configuration files and run without a problem

 

not with these versions  :Sad: 

```
emerge -pv udev dbus hal ivman

These are the packages that I would merge, in order:

Calculating dependencies ...done!

[ebuild   R   ] sys-fs/udev-079-r1  (-selinux) 0 kB 

[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/dbus-0.60-r4  -X -debug -doc -gcj -gtk -mono +python -qt (-selinux) +xml2 0 kB 

[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/hal-0.5.5.1-r3  +acpi -debug -doc -pam_console -pcmcia (-selinux) 0 kB 

[ebuild   R   ] sys-apps/ivman-0.6.10  -debug 0 kB 

```

Series of commands:

```
# rm -rf /etc/ivman/

# /usr/bin/ivman

manager.c:1340 (do_startup_configure) Directory /etc/ivman/ will be used for configuration files.

manager.c:437 (ivm_test_configs) Settings directory does not exist, attempting to create it...

manager.c:768 (ivm_run_command) Running: /bin/mkdir -p /etc/ivman/

manager.c:492 (ivm_test_configs) Configuration file /etc/ivman/IvmConfigActions.xml not found, creating one with default content...

manager.c:492 (ivm_test_configs) Configuration file /etc/ivman/IvmConfigBase.xml not found, creating one with default content...

manager.c:492 (ivm_test_configs) Configuration file /etc/ivman/IvmConfigProperties.xml not found, creating one with default content...

manager.c:492 (ivm_test_configs) Configuration file /etc/ivman/IvmConfigConditions.xml not found, creating one with default content...

# pgrep ivman     # no output, hence not running

# vi /etc/ivman/IvmConfigBase.xml

set fork to false, debug to true

# /usr/bin/ivman

manager.c:1340 (do_startup_configure) Directory /etc/ivman/ will be used for configuration files.

manager.c:259 (set_mount_command) No mount command was specified in IvmConfigBase.xml.  Ivman will try to automatically detect the command to use. If Ivman incorrectly detects the program(s) available on your system, first make sure the program(s) are in the default shell PATH, then please report it as a bug.

manager.c:291 (set_mount_command) pmount-hal detection skipped, as we are a root instance of Ivman.  pmount-hal is only used for user instances.

manager.c:333 (set_mount_command) pmount accepts -u <umask>

manager.c:336 (set_mount_command) pmount was found on your system. It will be used for mounting.

manager.c:768 (ivm_run_command) Running: echo 0 > /proc/sys/dev/cdrom/lock

manager.c:1387 (main) ivman 0.6.10, http:/ivman.sourceforge.net

manager.c:1392 (main) Compiled against HAL 0.5.x or later

manager.c:1396 (main) Running in system mode.

daemonize.c:123 (dropPrivileges) Can't drop privileges, user not specified.

manager.c:1417 (main) Couldn't drop privileges, exiting!

```

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## JeliJami

found an /etc/ivman directory on a backup

not even sure what version it is from

main difference related to this problem is the following snippet from /etc/ivman/IvmConfigBase.xml:

```

<!-- user for Ivman to run as.  You can then setup sudo rules for this

       user. -->

<ivm:Option name="user" value="ivman" />

<!-- group for Ivman to run as. Should have permissions to run 'pmount'. -->

<ivm:Option name="group" value="plugdev" />

```

with this code, drop privileges error solved!

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## gnychis

interesting... theres something really odd about ivman, i definately wish it had better documentation and some sort of support mailing list

glad you found your problem  :Smile: 

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