(In reply to comment #0)
> Description of problem:
> I am writing an selinux policy for pdns, and I need to set self:capability
> kill, because the guardian needs to signal the instance to exit. Because we
> have systemd, we can actually start pdns without the guardian option, and
> let systemd do this work. This will make acceptance of the policy-changes
> easier.

Hi,

That would be a consideration. 

> +PIDFile=/var/run/pdns.pid

Is this line necessary?

After systemctl restart pdns.service I get:

Dec  6 17:23:35 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 802 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid does not exist.
Dec  6 17:30:59 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 880 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid does not exist.

(In reply to comment #1)
> That would be a consideration.
Cool
> 
> > +PIDFile=/var/run/pdns.pid
> 
> Is this line necessary?
Not really, it is just that man 5 systemd.service says:
-----------
PIDFile=
    Takes an absolute file name pointing to the PID file of this daemon. Use of this option is recommended for services where Type= is set to forking. systemd will read the PID of the main process of the daemon after start-up of the service. systemd will not write to the file configured here.
-----------
> 
> After systemctl restart pdns.service I get:
> 
> Dec  6 17:23:35 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 802 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid
> does not exist.
> Dec  6 17:30:59 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 880 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid
> does not exist.
I didn't see the error you did on my f17 system. Are you sure pdns started okay for you?

(In reply to comment #2)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > That would be a consideration.
> Cool

Okay, here is my patch: (without PIDFile=/var/run/pdns.pid as we do not need it)

diff --git a/pdns.service b/pdns.service
index 1b826d9..e7ada83 100644
--- a/pdns.service
+++ b/pdns.service
@@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ After=network.target

 [Service]
 Type=forking
-ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon --guardian=yes
-ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control cycle
+ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
+ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control reload
 ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
+Restart=on-failure
+RestartSec=2

 [Install]
 WantedBy=multi-user.target


> > After systemctl restart pdns.service I get:
> > 
> > Dec  6 17:23:35 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 802 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid
> > does not exist.
> > Dec  6 17:30:59 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 880 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid
> > does not exist.
> I didn't see the error you did on my f17 system. Are you sure pdns started
> okay for you?

Yes, I'm seeing this on my f17 and f18 installation. (minimal install)

(In reply to comment #3)
> (In reply to comment #2)
> > (In reply to comment #1)
> > > That would be a consideration.
> > Cool
> 
> Okay, here is my patch: (without PIDFile=/var/run/pdns.pid as we do not need
> it)
> 
> diff --git a/pdns.service b/pdns.service
> index 1b826d9..e7ada83 100644
> --- a/pdns.service
> +++ b/pdns.service
> @@ -4,9 +4,11 @@ After=network.target
> 
>  [Service]
>  Type=forking
> -ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon --guardian=yes
> -ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control cycle
> +ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
> +ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control reload
>  ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
> +Restart=on-failure
> +RestartSec=2
> 
>  [Install]
>  WantedBy=multi-user.target
> 
Good catch about the cycle command.
Not sure reload is the best substitute though. That command is backend-specific. Might be better to just do a quit, and let itself start again, that is more in line what happens with guardian enabled. Or omit the reload command entirely, because I don't think pdns actually implements a consistent reload across all backends.
> 
> > > After systemctl restart pdns.service I get:
> > > 
> > > Dec  6 17:23:35 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 802 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid
> > > does not exist.
> > > Dec  6 17:30:59 fc18 systemd[1]: PID 880 read from file /var/run/pdns.pid
> > > does not exist.
> > I didn't see the error you did on my f17 system. Are you sure pdns started
> > okay for you?
> 
> Yes, I'm seeing this on my f17 and f18 installation. (minimal install)

Ok, better omit it then, even though I don't see it.

(In reply to comment #4)
> >  [Service]
> >  Type=forking
> > -ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon --guardian=yes
> > -ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control cycle
> > +ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
> > +ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control reload
> >  ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
> > +Restart=on-failure
> > +RestartSec=2
> > 
> >  [Install]
> >  WantedBy=multi-user.target
> > 
> Good catch about the cycle command.
> Not sure reload is the best substitute though. That command is
> backend-specific. Might be better to just do a quit, and let itself start
> again, that is more in line what happens with guardian enabled. Or omit the
> reload command entirely, because I don't think pdns actually implements a
> consistent reload across all backends.

Yes, I think the reload command isn't the best solution.

Should we remove ExecReload? (restart does the same, so we do not need it)
 
> > Yes, I'm seeing this on my f17 and f18 installation. (minimal install)
> 
> Ok, better omit it then, even though I don't see it.

Okay, this is strange. I can reproduce it on a clean f17/f18 minimal install.

(In reply to comment #5)

> > > 
> > Good catch about the cycle command.
> > Not sure reload is the best substitute though. That command is
> > backend-specific. Might be better to just do a quit, and let itself start
> > again, that is more in line what happens with guardian enabled. Or omit the
> > reload command entirely, because I don't think pdns actually implements a
> > consistent reload across all backends.
> 
> Yes, I think the reload command isn't the best solution.
> 
> Should we remove ExecReload? (restart does the same, so we do not need it)

I think removing it is fine.
>  
> > > Yes, I'm seeing this on my f17 and f18 installation. (minimal install)
> > 
> > Ok, better omit it then, even though I don't see it.
> 
> Okay, this is strange. I can reproduce it on a clean f17/f18 minimal install.

What backend do you use?

(In reply to comment #6)

> > Yes, I think the reload command isn't the best solution.
> > 
> > Should we remove ExecReload? (restart does the same, so we do not need it)
> 
> I think removing it is fine.

Okay, we have two options:

1) pdns unit file without reload option

[Unit]
Description=PowerDNS Authoritative Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=2

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

2) pdns unit file with reload option "reload" instead of "cycle", because pdns without guardian doesn't support pdns_control cycle

[Unit]
Description=PowerDNS Authoritative Server
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control reload
ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=2

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

> What backend do you use?

I've tested it with bind and mysql as backend.

(In reply to comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #6)
> 
> > > Yes, I think the reload command isn't the best solution.
> > > 
> > > Should we remove ExecReload? (restart does the same, so we do not need it)
> > 
> > I think removing it is fine.
> 
> Okay, we have two options:
> 
> 1) pdns unit file without reload option
> 
> [Unit]
> Description=PowerDNS Authoritative Server
> After=network.target
> 
> [Service]
> Type=forking
> ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
> ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
> Restart=on-failure
> RestartSec=2
> 
> [Install]
> WantedBy=multi-user.target
> 
> 2) pdns unit file with reload option "reload" instead of "cycle", because
> pdns without guardian doesn't support pdns_control cycle
> 
> [Unit]
> Description=PowerDNS Authoritative Server
> After=network.target
> 
> [Service]
> Type=forking
> ExecStart=/usr/sbin/pdns_server --daemon
> ExecReload=/usr/bin/pdns_control reload
> ExecStop=/usr/bin/pdns_control quit
> Restart=on-failure
> RestartSec=2
> 
> [Install]
> WantedBy=multi-user.target
> 

I am leaning towards option 1, but I am interested in what Peter has to say about it.

Reload is not a good way - indeed it does not actually reload pdns.conf and in fact it does very little.

I agree that with systemd, the guardian is not necessary. Getting rid of --daemon might be even cleaner, but if I recall correctly, we don't syslog in that case.

In short: option 1!

pdns-3.1-7.fc18 has been submitted as an update for Fedora 18.
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/pdns-3.1-7.fc18

(In reply to comment #9)
> Reload is not a good way - indeed it does not actually reload pdns.conf and
> in fact it does very little.
> 
> I agree that with systemd, the guardian is not necessary. Getting rid of
> --daemon might be even cleaner, but if I recall correctly, we don't syslog
> in that case.
> 
> In short: option 1!

Thanks for your feedback.

Syslog works as expected:

Jan  7 17:16:57 fc18 yum[1417]: Installed: pdns-3.1-7.fc18.x86_64
Jan  7 17:17:10 fc18 systemd[1]: Reloading.
Jan  7 17:17:24 fc18 systemd[1]: Starting PowerDNS Authoritative Server...
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns_server[1442]: Jan 07 17:17:25 Reading random entropy from '/dev/urandom'
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1442]: Reading random entropy from '/dev/urandom'
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 systemd[1]: Started PowerDNS Authoritative Server.
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: This is a standalone pdns
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: Listening on controlsocket in '/var/run/pdns.controlsocket'
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: It is advised to bind to explicit addresses with the --local-address option
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: UDP server bound to 0.0.0.0:53
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: TCP server bound to 0.0.0.0:53
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: PowerDNS 3.1 (C) 2001-2012 PowerDNS.COM BV (Jan  7 2013, 15:54:17, gcc 4.7.2 20121109 (Red Hat 4.7.2-8)) starting up
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: PowerDNS comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it according to the terms of the GPL version 2.
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: Creating backend connection for TCP
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: About to create 3 backend threads for UDP
Jan  7 17:17:25 fc18 pdns[1443]: Done launching threads, ready to distribute questions
Jan  7 17:17:32 fc18 systemd[1]: Stopping PowerDNS Authoritative Server...
Jan  7 17:17:32 fc18 pdns_control[1453]: Exiting
Jan  7 17:17:32 fc18 systemd[1]: Stopped PowerDNS Authoritative Server.
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 systemd[1]: Starting PowerDNS Authoritative Server...
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns_server[1460]: Jan 07 17:17:45 Reading random entropy from '/dev/urandom'
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1460]: Reading random entropy from '/dev/urandom'
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 systemd[1]: Started PowerDNS Authoritative Server.
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: This is a standalone pdns
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: Listening on controlsocket in '/var/run/pdns.controlsocket'
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: It is advised to bind to explicit addresses with the --local-address option
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: UDP server bound to 0.0.0.0:53
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: TCP server bound to 0.0.0.0:53
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: PowerDNS 3.1 (C) 2001-2012 PowerDNS.COM BV (Jan  7 2013, 15:54:17, gcc 4.7.2 20121109 (Red Hat 4.7.2-8)) starting up
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: PowerDNS comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it according to the terms of the GPL version 2.
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: Creating backend connection for TCP
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: About to create 3 backend threads for UDP
Jan  7 17:17:45 fc18 pdns[1461]: Done launching threads, ready to distribute questions

[root@fc18 ~]# pdns_control version
3.1
[root@fc18 ~]# pdns_control uptime
8.2 minutes
[root@fc18 ~]# pdns_control show "*"
corrupt-packets=0,deferred-cache-inserts=0,deferred-cache-lookup=0,latency=0,packetcache-hit=0,packetcache-miss=0,packetcache-size=0,qsize-q=0,query-cache-hit=0,query-cache-miss=0,recursing-answers=0,recursing-questions=0,servfail-packets=0,tcp-answers=0,tcp-queries=0,timedout-packets=0,udp-answers=0,udp-queries=0,udp4-answers=0,udp4-queries=0,udp6-answers=0,udp6-queries=0,

Package pdns-3.1-7.fc18:
* should fix your issue,
* was pushed to the Fedora 18 testing repository,
* should be available at your local mirror within two days.
Update it with:
# su -c 'yum update --enablerepo=updates-testing pdns-3.1-7.fc18'
as soon as you are able to.
Please go to the following url:
https://admin.fedoraproject.org/updates/FEDORA-2013-0368/pdns-3.1-7.fc18
then log in and leave karma (feedback).

pdns-3.1-7.fc18 has been pushed to the Fedora 18 stable repository.  If problems still persist, please make note of it in this bug report.