Bug 470142 - pirut (pup) crashes on launch due to malformed updateinfo.xml from RHN
Summary: pirut (pup) crashes on launch due to malformed updateinfo.xml from RHN
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Satellite 5
Classification: Red Hat
Component: Client
Version: 530
Hardware: All
OS: Linux
urgent
high
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Pradeep Kilambi
QA Contact: Michael Mráka
URL:
Whiteboard:
: 470091 470349 471379 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks: 456985 471440 663403
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2008-11-05 22:14 UTC by Jim
Modified: 2013-01-10 10:27 UTC (History)
15 users (show)

Fixed In Version: sat530
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2009-09-10 20:30:09 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)
Crash dump of pirut launch (19.72 KB, application/octet-stream)
2008-11-05 22:14 UTC, Jim
no flags Details
The pirut generated update list. (534.67 KB, application/xml)
2008-11-05 22:36 UTC, Jim
no flags Details
Traceback from RHEL5.2 x86_64 machine (20.92 KB, text/plain)
2008-11-11 18:23 UTC, Ray Van Dolson
no flags Details
Crash report pirut (19.72 KB, application/octet-stream)
2008-11-12 17:58 UTC, Jim
no flags Details

Description Jim 2008-11-05 22:14:09 UTC
Created attachment 322648 [details]
Crash dump of pirut launch

Description of problem:
pirut (pup) crashes on launch with the following message.  
Component: pirut
Summary: TB9536d0ca <string>:64:__iter__:SyntaxError: mismatched tag: line 53386, column 8

This happens no matter how the application is launched.  I have seen this now on two different RHEL5 systems.  Yum and up2date both appear fine, and yum lists the following updates ready for my system.
kernel.i686                              2.6.18-92.1.17.el5     rhel-i386-server
kernel-devel.i686                        2.6.18-92.1.17.el5     rhel-i386-server
kernel-headers.i386                      2.6.18-92.1.17.el5     rhel-i386-server
net-snmp-libs.i386                       1:5.3.1-24.el5_2.2     rhel-i386-server
systemtap.i386                           0.6.2-1.el5_2.2        rhel-i386-server
systemtap-runtime.i386                   0.6.2-1.el5_2.2        rhel-i386-server
tzdata.noarch                            2008i-1.el5            rhel-i386-server


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


How reproducible:
Every time pup is launched, this is happening.  I first noticed this this morning when the updater notification appeared and said that I was no longer getting updates.  When I clicked it, pup started, the window was drawn, and then it crashed.  On the other system I have, I just tried to launch pup from the applications->system tools->Software Updates.  Same crash from command line.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Launch pup
  
Actual results:
crash

Expected results:
list of available updates.

Additional info:
Yum appears fine.  Ran "yum clean all" hoping it was a cache issue, but not.  "yum check-update" returns the above list of  packages.

Comment 1 Jim 2008-11-05 22:36:29 UTC
Created attachment 322651 [details]
The pirut generated update list.

Comment 2 Jim 2008-11-05 22:39:36 UTC
The /var/cache/yum/rhel-i386-server-5/updateinfo.xml.gz file is not being created correctly?  It also generates an error when opening with firefox, at the next location in the file from where pirut errors at.

The version of pirut that is installed on both my machines is:
1.3.28-13.el5

Comment 3 Jim 2008-11-05 23:13:44 UTC
Upon further inspection (sorry, I'm new at this).  When looking closer at the xml file (go vim), it is this section that pirut is barfing on.

       <reference href="http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=467105" id="467105" type="bugzilla">
        ['xm trigger <domain> init causes kernel panic.']
      </reference>

It appears that both pirut and firefox believe that the bug description has a malformed piece of XML  <domain> instead of an escaped comment.

Comment 4 Jim 2008-11-06 00:26:26 UTC
I have verified that updating the kernel package that contains the problematic text using yum does indeed "fix" this crash.  However, the mis-parsing/generation of the updateinfo.xml.gz file does appear to be a genuine bug.

Comment 5 James Antill 2008-11-06 04:30:01 UTC
Thanks, there isn't anything yum/pirut/etc. can do about this ... reassigning to the RHN people.

Comment 6 James Antill 2008-11-06 04:37:22 UTC
*** Bug 470091 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7 Amy Owens 2008-11-06 13:18:18 UTC
added user story

http://wwwapps.rdu.redhat.com:8080/xplanner/do/view/userstory?oid=59468

Comment 8 James Antill 2008-11-06 20:27:14 UTC
*** Bug 470349 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 9 wdc 2008-11-07 20:17:19 UTC
I am the Linux Platform Coordinator at MIT, and can report two additional facts about this bug:

1. It also manifests as a scary pop-up message from the software updater applet in the menu bar.  It says that the system is not receiving updates, and tells the user to check the network connection or register for updates. This is going to be VERY upsetting to anyone using Satellite server.

2. This bug will be biting hundreds of desktop RHEL users at MIT.

Please note that we have mentioned this bugzilla in a Service Request, but we don't have a TAM.  Any expedited examination of this bug would be MOST welcome.

-Bill Cattey

Comment 10 wdc 2008-11-07 20:20:53 UTC
Question for Jim who originally reported this problem:

Are you getting RHN from a version 4.2 Satellite Server or from some other RHN source?

Comment 11 wdc 2008-11-07 23:05:46 UTC
I finally had the software updater applet run.  Here is the actual text of the scary message:

System is not receiving
updates

  Your system is currently not receiving software
  updates.  Please check your network connection
  and/or set up software updates.

                              [Don't notify me again ]

Comment 12 Jim 2008-11-08 02:51:24 UTC
I (shamefully) have no idea what the details of the Satellite Server that I am connecting to are.  The University of Washington has excellent instructions posted to get a RHEL system connected to their RHN servers.  I have just set up this up and didn't worry about it until it broke.  I have asked for elaboration, and will forward any information as I receive it.

Comment 15 Ray Van Dolson 2008-11-11 18:21:24 UTC
Also experiencing this issue with clients talking to a Satellite 5.0.2 server.  Does someone here already have an SR open for this?

Attaching the traceback we received.

Comment 16 Ray Van Dolson 2008-11-11 18:23:37 UTC
Created attachment 323211 [details]
Traceback from RHEL5.2 x86_64 machine

Comment 17 Jim 2008-11-12 04:34:35 UTC
I have confirmed that the University of Washington RHN satellite server is version 4.2.

Comment 18 Jim 2008-11-12 17:58:21 UTC
Created attachment 323362 [details]
Crash report pirut

Pirut is crashing again as of this morning with the same error.  Attached is the crash file.  It appears that the kernel package was updated on 11/11/2008, and the malformed text is still in the package.  The following packages are ready for me to update at the moment:
dmraid.i386                              1.0.0.rc13-14.el5_2.1  rhel-i386-server
gnutls.i386                              1.4.1-3.el5_2.1        rhel-i386-server
gnutls-devel.i386                        1.4.1-3.el5_2.1        rhel-i386-server
httpd.i386                               2.2.3-11.el5_2.4       rhel-i386-server
httpd-manual.i386                        2.2.3-11.el5_2.4       rhel-i386-server
kernel.i686                              2.6.18-92.1.18.el5     rhel-i386-server
kernel-devel.i686                        2.6.18-92.1.18.el5     rhel-i386-server
kernel-headers.i386                      2.6.18-92.1.18.el5     rhel-i386-server
lvm2.i386                                2.02.32-4.el5_2.1      rhel-i386-server
mod_ssl.i386                             1:2.2.3-11.el5_2.4     rhel-i386-server

Comment 19 James Antill 2008-11-13 14:25:01 UTC
*** Bug 471379 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 21 wdc 2008-11-17 22:45:15 UTC
There are two places to fix this:

1. Make RHN generate correct XML so that pirut will not choke.
2. Make pirut robust against mal-formed XML.

Red Hat is working the problem from the RHN side. The relevant bugzillas for the Satellite Server component of the RHN product are: 428819 and 470932.

QUESTION: Is a fix to pirut to be more robust against mal-formed XML comment,
or is the traceback the best we can get?

If no change to pirut is possible or cost effective, this bug should be closed,
and people should be pointed to the relevant hotfix for their Satellite Server.

Sites with Satellite Server that are experiencing this problem should contact Red Hat for help in any event.  Tell them to refer to the MIT Service Request 1871768
to come up to speed quickly.

Comment 26 Brandon Perkins 2009-09-10 20:30:09 UTC
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem
described in this bug report. This report is therefore being
closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information
on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files,
please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report
if the solution does not work for you.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHEA-2009-1434.html


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