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Bug 1711171 - `alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python2` fails with ecode 2 and no explanation on stderr
Summary: `alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python2` fails with ecode 2 and no explan...
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Classification: Red Hat
Component: chkconfig
Version: 7.7
Hardware: x86_64
OS: Linux
unspecified
medium
Target Milestone: rc
: ---
Assignee: Jan Macku
QA Contact: Daniel Rusek
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks: 1820089
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2019-05-17 07:12 UTC by Jiri Danek
Modified: 2020-09-29 19:43 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

Fixed In Version: chkconfig-1.7.6-1.el7
Doc Type: If docs needed, set a value
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
: 1820089 (view as bug list)
Environment:
Last Closed: 2020-09-29 19:43:47 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Product Errata RHBA-2020:3890 0 None None None 2020-09-29 19:43:57 UTC

Description Jiri Danek 2019-05-17 07:12:56 UTC 
Description of problem:

When I spin up fresh RHEL-7.7-20190514.2 qcow image in OpenStack and run

alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python2

I get no error message printed and the return value of the above command is 2.

This is a bug because of the following promise from the man page of alternatives

"
DIAGNOSTICS
       alternatives chatters incessantly about its activities on its standard output channel.  If problems occur, alternatives outputs  error  messages
       on its standard error channel and returns an exit status of 2.  These diagnostics should be self-explanatory; if you do not find them so, please
       report this as a bug.
"

If I run with --verbose, I get

[root@host-10-0-132-192 ~]#   alternatives --set python /usr/bin/python2 --verbose
reading /var/lib/alternatives/python

[root@host-10-0-132-192 ~]# ls /var/lib/alternatives/python
ls: cannot access /var/lib/alternatives/python: No such file or directory

I can fix this by issuing

/usr/sbin/alternatives --install /usr/bin/python python /usr/bin/python2 1

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

[root@host-10-0-132-192 ~]# alternatives --version
alternatives version 1.7.4

How reproducible:

Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1.
2.
3.

Actual results:


Expected results:


Additional info:
Comment 2 Petr Viktorin (pviktori) 2019-05-17 09:40:33 UTC 
In RHEL 7, there are no alternatives for python; /usr/bin/python is always Python 2. The same issue happens with any missing alternative:

    alternatives --set foo /bar

Changing component to chkconfig.
Comment 3 Jan Macku 2020-04-02 08:55:23 UTC 
Upstream PR: https://github.com/fedora-sysv/chkconfig/pull/36

This bug will be fixed in RHEL 7.9
Comment 9 errata-xmlrpc 2020-09-29 19:43:47 UTC 
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory (chkconfig bug fix and enhancement update), and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2020:3890
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