/etc/init.d/mysql uses "set -e" for most of the script, but that is not
compatible with the LSB library /lib/lsb/init-functions. This
particularly causes problems whenever log_end_msg is called with a
nonzero argument, as log_end_msg will return that argument and halt the
script. So there are several chunks of code that will never be called
(some informational messages and the stop-using-kill bit).

This applies to the squeeze package as well.

tag 621020 +moreinfo
thanks


Regarding #621020

"/etc/init.d/mysql uses "set -e" for most of the script, but that is not
compatible with the LSB library /lib/lsb/init-functions. This
particularly causes problems whenever log_end_msg is called with a
nonzero argument, as log_end_msg will return that argument and halt the
script. So there are several chunks of code that will never be called
(some informational messages and the stop-using-kill bit)."

Hmm... This contradicts section 6.1 of the Debian policy.

"The package management system looks at the exit status from these
scripts. It is important that they exit with a non-zero status if there
is an error, so that the package management system can stop its
processing. For shell scripts this means that you almost always need to
use set -e (this is usually true when writing shell scripts, in fact).
It is also important, of course, that they exit with a zero status if
everything went well."

Copying "debian-devel" for more general comments.

Hi,

Here "these scripts" refer to "package maintainer scripts"
({pre,post}{inst,rm}) and not to "init scripts". So there's no
contradiction.

The problem of using "set -e" in init script is even documented
in policy 9.3.2:
http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-opersys.html#s-writing-init

| Be careful of using set -e in init.d scripts. Writing correct init.d
| scripts requires accepting various error exit statuses when daemons are
| already running or already stopped without aborting the init.d script, and
| common init.d function libraries are not safe to call with set -e in
| effect[72]. For init.d scripts, it's often easier to not use set -e and
| instead check the result of each command separately.
|
| [72] /lib/lsb/init-functions, which assists in writing LSB-compliant
| init scripts, may fail if set -e is in effect and echoing status messages
| to the console fails, for example.

Cheers,

Ah thanks.  YEs that rings a bell now.

Le 11.04.2012 22:04, Raphael Hertzog a écrit :

For what is worth, this has been discussed at length in #546743 and is
now documented as the #661002 bug against lsb-base.

Please note that #661002 "lsb-base:/lib/lsb/init-functions may fail if
`set -e` is used" is tagged as +help: patches are welcome and could
eventually lead to a fix in policy.

(Deciding whether energy should be put in functions for SysVinit is up
to each reader.)

Cheers,

OdyX

  Hi,

  I run into this bug today:
Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.23+dfsg-2) ...
/lib/lsb/init-functions: line 428: FANCYTTY: unbound variable
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed.
/lib/lsb/init-functions: line 428: FANCYTTY: unbound variable
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:
 mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.5; however:
  Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.5
 mysql-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

In /lib/lsb/init-functions, at line 428, there is:
FANCYTTY=$([ -e /etc/default/rcS ] && . /etc/default/rcS && echo $FANCYTTY)
As FANCYTTY is not defined in my /etc/default/rcS and init script is
called with "set -e", the init script fails.

I will raise the severity because this bug does not only happen when
console is not working (as reported initially)

  Regards,
   Vincent

  In fact, the problem with mysql-server is worst because it also use
set -u
So missing variables lead to errors and lsb-base with FANCYTTY will often
trigger the bug

  Regards,
    Vincent

I think we aleady have
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=621020 for this. We'll
have to pay some attention to this .

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
mysql-8.0, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive.

A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 621020@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Lena Voytek <lena.voytek@canonical.com> (supplier of updated mysql-8.0 package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@ftp-master.debian.org)
Format: 1.8
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2025 13:53:55 -0400
Source: mysql-8.0
Built-For-Profiles: noudeb
Architecture: source
Version: 8.0.43-3
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: medium
Maintainer: Debian MySQL Maintainers <pkg-mysql-maint@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Lena Voytek <lena.voytek@canonical.com>
Closes: 544013 621020 1006717 1092213
Changes:
 mysql-8.0 (8.0.43-3) unstable; urgency=medium
 .
   * Fix permissions and startup race condition in logrotate config.
     (Closes: #544013)
   * Update uploaders list, removing those who are no longer involved with the
     package. Thank you all for your work! (Closes: #1006717)
   * Add missing full stops to translations. (Closes: #1092213)
   * Update debian compat to 13.
     - Use dh_installsystemd to match compatibility.
     - Replace install --fail-missing with dh_missing.
   * Update standards version.
   * Remove set -e and set -u usage in init script. (Closes: #621020)
   * Clean up license text in d/copyright.
   * Remove file permissions updates in d/rules, fixed upstream.
   * Add missing symbols to symbols file.
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