Description of problem: The default configuration in /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf points to /run/lighttpd/ for runtime state: var.state_dir = "/run/lighttpd" But this directory does not exist, and cannot be created since LigHTTPd runs as its own user: server.username = "lighttpd" This means that LigHTTPd fails to start, claiming "opening pid-file failed: /run/lighttpd/lighttpd.pid No such file or directory": ● lighttpd.service - Lightning Fast Webserver With Light System Requirements Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/lighttpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled) Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2020-06-22 19:50:43 CEST; 5min ago Process: 3047 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/lighttpd -D -f /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf (code=exited, status=255) Main PID: 3047 (code=exited, status=255) Jun 22 19:50:43 webserver systemd[1]: Started Lightning Fast Webserver With Light System Requirements. Jun 22 19:50:43 webserver lighttpd[3047]: 2020-06-22 19:50:43: (server.c.1233) opening pid-file failed: /run/lighttpd/lighttpd.pid No such file or directory Jun 22 19:50:43 webserver lighttpd[3047]: 2020-06-22 19:50:43: (server.c.424) unlink failed for: /run/lighttpd/lighttpd.pid 2 No such file or directory Jun 22 19:50:43 webserver systemd[1]: lighttpd.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=255/n/a Jun 22 19:50:43 webserver systemd[1]: lighttpd.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'. Interestingly, the spec file contains code for handling this, at https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/lighttpd/blob/30ec12b96be54a47693139c510e2e3b0d5537d86/f/lighttpd.spec#_230 mkdir -p %{buildroot}/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d echo 'D /run/lighttpd 0750 lighttpd lighttpd -' > \ %{buildroot}/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/lighttpd.conf But that file does not exist on the system or in the RPM: # rpm -qil lighttpd | grep tmpfiles # Manually creating this file makes LigHTTPd work. The code in the spec file creating the tmpfiles.d configuration is behind an "%if %{with tmpfiles}" block, so it seems that the RPM build should be configured to set this variable on EPEL 8. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): lighttpd-1.4.55-2.el8.x86_64 How reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Install CentOS 8 2. dnf install epel-release 3. dnf install lighttpd 4. systemctl start lighttpd Actual results: LigHTTPD does not start. "systemctl status lighttpd" contains the error message "opening pid-file failed: /run/lighttpd/lighttpd.pid No such file or directory". Expected results: LigHTTPD starts.
FEDORA-EPEL-2020-0de6d49717 has been submitted as an update to Fedora EPEL 8. https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-EPEL-2020-0de6d49717
FEDORA-EPEL-2020-0de6d49717 has been pushed to the Fedora EPEL 8 testing repository. You can provide feedback for this update here: https://bodhi.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-EPEL-2020-0de6d49717 See also https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/QA:Updates_Testing for more information on how to test updates.
Thanks for the quick response. I have tested and can confirm that lighttpd-1.4.55-3.el8.x86_64 from epel-testing fixes my problem.
FEDORA-EPEL-2020-0de6d49717 has been pushed to the Fedora EPEL 8 stable repository. If problem still persists, please make note of it in this bug report.