generator: Fix orphaned /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow entries before sysusers#2207
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generator: Fix orphaned /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow entries before sysusers#2207cgwalters wants to merge 2 commits into
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This pull request introduces a new systemd service and internal command to prune orphaned and duplicate entries from /etc/shadow and /etc/gshadow prior to systemd-sysusers execution. The implementation provides utilities for parsing shadow-style files, an RAII guard for file locking, and a systemd generator for conditional activation. Review feedback points out a potential race condition in file metadata retrieval and suggests optimizing string allocations during entry filtering.
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renner0e
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May 22, 2026
…lization ostree explicitly unlinks /etc/.updated (and /var/.updated) when finalizing a new deployment so that systemd ConditionNeedsUpdate=|/etc services like systemd-sysusers and systemd-tmpfiles always run on the first boot of that deployment. The native composefs path was missing this step. initialize_state() copies /etc from the container image with 'cp -a', which preserves any /etc/.updated stamp from the build environment. composefs_backend_finalize() merges /etc into the staged deployment directory but similarly never removes the stamp. The consequence is that systemd sees /etc/.updated already present and concludes /etc needs no update, causing sysusers (and tmpfiles) to be skipped entirely on the first boot of an upgraded deployment. Assisted-by: OpenCode (Claude Sonnet 4.6) Signed-off-by: Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org>
…ysusers There's a bit of a trap in the movement from nss-altfiles to systemd-sysusers; if users/groups migrate from the former to the latter, they may leave orphaned entires in the shadow files. systemd-sysusers then tries to create those users/groups at boot it finds them already in the shadow files and fatally errors. Add a generator which enables a unit detects this situation and cleans up the shadow entries. Now in practice: we probably should have made sure that nss-altfiles users don't have shadow entries at all, but that ship has sailed. Fixes: bootc-dev#1179 Assisted-by: OpenCode (Claude Sonnet 4.6) Signed-off-by: Colin Walters <walters@verbum.org>
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OK, discovered an existing bug here around |
Johan-Liebert1
approved these changes
May 25, 2026
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There's a bit of a trap in the movement from nss-altfiles to systemd-sysusers; if users/groups migrate from the former to the latter, they may leave orphaned entires in the shadow files.
systemd-sysusers then tries to create those users/groups at boot it finds them already in the shadow files and fatally errors.
Add a generator which enables a unit detects this situation and cleans up the shadow entries.
Now in practice: we probably should have made sure that nss-altfiles users don't have shadow entries at all, but that ship has sailed.
Fixes: #1179
Assisted-by: OpenCode (Claude Sonnet 4.6)