sudo su error

Feek

Feek

Feek

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Every time I sudo su on a CentOS7 system, I get this error.

Code: 
bash: /root/.cache/abrt/lastnotification.Fl580G5f: cannot overwrite existing file
'abrt-cli status' timed out

The number after lastnotification is different every time.

There is a file in /root/.cache/abrt called lastnotification.

I've tried giving it +777 permissions, I get the same error.

I've even deleted it, it makes no difference. It comes back with these permissions.

Code: 
-rw-------  1 root root 0 Aug 14 23:27 lastnotification

It's just a little frustrating, anyone know what I can do to fix this?

Thanks.
 
As this is the 'automatic bug reporting tool' it may not be entirely necessary, as a nuclear option can you uninstall it?

maybe reinstall afterwards and see if it goes away, do you get the error if you 'sudo su -'?
 
Interesting, I disabled the abrt service and it didn't help but using sudo su - doesn't give me the error.

I can live with that, thanks.
 
Good call but the cache is clear - There's nothing in /var/spool/abrt so there are no cached bug reports to clear :(
 
It's not just the
'abrt-cli status' timed out
message, it's the previous line that's bugging me as well.

Creating a .hushlogin in /root doesn't make any difference :(

TangoEchoAlpha said:
Red Hat support subscription, maybe the solution for this will help (I can't see it as I don't have said subscription) - https://access.redhat.com/solutions/3077311
Click to expand...
Thanks, that would be really useful is someone is able to look at that for me.
 
I've been able to find that info and basically it's saying to make sure the owner of /root/.cache/abrt/lastnotification is set to root.

Already checked that - It's set correctly.
 
There's something odd.

https://tuxrootsite.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/disable-last-login-message-centos-7/

When I run
>/var/log/lastlog

I get an error...

bash: /var/log/lastlog: cannot overwrite existing file


Which is strangely similar to the error I'm getting when sudo su

bash: /root/.cache/abrt/lastnotification.Fl580G5f: cannot overwrite existing file

I am root - I've logged in and done a sudo su so I should be able to overwrite these files.
 
Feek said:
There's something odd.

https://tuxrootsite.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/disable-last-login-message-centos-7/

When I run
>/var/log/lastlog

I get an error...

bash: /var/log/lastlog: cannot overwrite existing file


Which is strangely similar to the error I'm getting when sudo su

bash: /root/.cache/abrt/lastnotification.Fl580G5f: cannot overwrite existing file

I am root - I've logged in and done a sudo su so I should be able to overwrite these files.
Click to expand...

The error from the redirection is possibly the bash noclobber setting. Try

set +o noclobber

and try again.
 
That allowed me to empty the lastlog file but didn't actually make any difference to the errors. I think I'm just going to have to live with it.
 
If the error on log in is also due to noclobber being on, then working out where it is being enabled would be key.

It's off on my Centos systems for both root and ordinary users. I don't know if that's a Centos default or not, but I don't recall doing anything to disable it.

Looking back over the thread, you get the error with "sudo su", but not with "sudo su -"? If so, it might be something to do with the environment of your normal user.

Does

Code: 
set -o | grep noclobber

show it on or off in the normal user shell? If it is on, then try the "set +o noclobber" before issuing the sudo su.

Could also be something in your sudo config, I guess. For most maintenance, I would use "su -" anyway.
 
VersionMonkey said:
Looking back over the thread, you get the error with "sudo su", but not with "sudo su -"? If so, it might be something to do with the environment of your normal user.
Click to expand...

It's really inconsistent.

Sometimes I get the single error, sometimes I get both errors, sometimes I get a 'last time I logged on' message, sometimes I don't.

No matter what I try, including the +noclobber from my own login, it literally is different each time I issue the same sudo su or sudo su - command.

However...

sudo -i

Just drops me to a # prompt. No last login message, no error.
 
I don't really have a good idea of where the problem is. But having had a poke around my Centos system both messages are probably coming from the script /etc/profile.d/abrt-console-notification.sh.

There's a bug already against abrt for the cannot overwrite error (https://github.com/abrt/abrt/issues/1371), which is fixed but may not have made it into Centos 7.

Other than the previously mentioned RedHat support article (which I can't read either - I also do not have a subscription), I can't see much about the timeout issue.

The script comes from the abrt-console-notification package which you could probably remove if you don't want to know about any detected problems when you log in.

I'd guess sudo -i doesn't run a login shell and therefore won't run the profile script.
 
VersionMonkey said:
I don't really have a good idea of where the problem is. But having had a poke around my Centos system both messages are probably coming from the script /etc/profile.d/abrt-console-notification.sh.
Click to expand...
Quite possibly - I'm just going to live with it, thanks for trying to help though, it's most appreciated.
 
Feek said:
It's not just the 'abrt-cli status' timed out message, it's the previous line that's bugging me as well. Creating a .hushlogin in /root doesn't make any difference :( Thanks, that would be really useful is someone is able to look at that for me.
Click to expand...

RHEL says to chown last notification to your user and then restart abrtd.
 
I had a strange problem similar to this. I logged in as the actual root account from the login screen not "su".

It solved it for me... dunno why "su" is different.
 
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