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Description of problem: The default smartd_opts in /etc/sysconfig/smartmontools include the --capabilities argument, which makes smartd drop most privileges on startup. As documented in smartd(8), this disables all alerts (e-mails, messages to local consoles, possible plugins in /etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.d/ like desktop notifications). The alert notification machinery (/etc/smartmontools/smartd_warning.sh) will simply never be run by smartd when --capabilities is enabled. This makes smartd in the default configuration close to useless, because the only thing it does is write even critical alerts to the syslog, which most users do not monitor closely enough to notice a warning of an imminent disk failure before it is too late. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): smartmontools-7.2-2.fc32.x86_64 How reproducible: Any time on demand Steps to Reproduce: 1. Add "-M test" to the default uncommented DEVICESCAN line in /etc/smartmontools/smartd.conf to trigger a test alert 2. systemctl restart smartd.service Actual results: No alert is ever generated. Syslog messages like the following will be logged, pointing at the problem: Device: /dev/sda [SAT], --capabilites is set, mail will be suppressed. Device: /dev/nvme0, --capabilites is set, mail will be suppressed. Expected results: Syslog messages like the following, together with a warning e-mail and message to all consoles. Executing test of /usr/libexec/smartmontools/smartdnotify to root ... Test of /usr/libexec/smartmontools/smartdnotify to root: successful Executing test of /usr/libexec/smartmontools/smartdnotify to root ... Test of /usr/libexec/smartmontools/smartdnotify to root: successful Additional info: Removing the "--capabilities" argument from /etc/sysconfig/smartmontools and restarting smartd fixes the issue.
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*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 1954015 ***