View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | View Status | Date Submitted | Last Update |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0010588 | Taler | merchant backend | public | 2025-11-12 19:16 | 2025-11-18 18:04 |
| Reporter | vecirex | Assigned To | vecirex | ||
| Priority | low | Severity | minor | Reproducibility | always |
| Status | feedback | Resolution | open | ||
| Product Version | git (master) | ||||
| Target Version | git (master) | ||||
| Summary | 0010588: After installing taler-merchant (Deb/trixie-testing): /var/lib/taler-merchant missing, instead /var/lib/taler-exchange is there | ||||
| Description | Acc. to the /etc/passwd file for the taler-merchant-httpd user, /var/lib/taler-merchant/ shall exist, but does not; instead, taler-exchange/ shows up there: root@bcead3ae4f5e:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled# cat /etc/passwd | grep taler taler-merchant-httpd:x:103:33::/var/lib/taler-merchant:/usr/sbin/nologin root@bcead3ae4f5e:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled# ls -l /var/lib/ | grep taler drwxr-xr-x 1 root root 0 Oct 31 11:23 taler-exchange root@bcead3ae4f5e:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled# | ||||
| Steps To Reproduce | Just install taler-merchant on a fresh, e.g., containerized system: apt-get install taler-merchant # from trixie-testing root@bcead3ae4f5e:/etc/nginx/sites-enabled# dpkg --list | grep taler ii libtalerexchange 1.1.4~trixie amd64 Libraries to talk to a GNU Taler exchange. ii libtalermerchant 1.1.6~trixie amd64 libraries to talk to a GNU Taler merchant. ii taler-merchant 1.1.6~trixie amd64 GNU's payment system merchant backend. ii taler-terms-generator 1.1.4~trixie amd64 Tool to generate the terms of service The described situation is before starting taler-merchant-httpd. | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
| related to | 0010561 | confirmed | Taler | Setup of self-provisioning system to test self-provisioning & receive (-> future) donations for Tor/Katzenpost/BitTorrent infra |
|
|
Add info: pkg from repo label trixie-testing |
|
|
/var/lib/taler-exchange might exist because of this installed package, as a lib dependency: ii libtalerexchange 1.1.4~trixie amd64 Libraries to talk to a GNU Taler exchange However, if we are to just run a taler-merchant and not a taler-exchange service on a system, I guess that folder shall not exist. |
|
|
titlefix |
|
|
The "taler-exchange.postinst" creates /var/lib/taler-exchange for the secmod users, they need it. That said, if you installed ONLY taler-merchant, you should not get taler-exchange as a dependency and thus also not that directory. So first question: is taler-exchange installed, or just libtalerexchange? |
|
|
Oh, and /etc/passwd listing /var/lib/taler-merchant does NOT mean that it should exist, you can totally create a user without a $HOME, and as the merchant processes do not need a home, it's fine that the passwd points to a non-existent home directory. |
|
|
taler-exchange was never installed, no: see section of steps to reproduce with dpkg --list | grep taler. And that with the $HOME folder which is not strictly needed to operate with the user is clear, but I assume there's an intention on listing that exact path there. :) In any case, the folder is documented to exist: taler-merchant-httpd@bcead3ae4f5e:/etc/taler-merchant$ cat taler-merchant.conf | grep TALER_DATA_HOME -B 7 # Paths for the system-wide installation of the Taler merchant. Do not remove # or change these unless you are very sure of what you are doing. TALER_HOME = /var/lib/taler-merchant/ TALER_RUNTIME_DIR = /run/taler-merchant/ TALER_CACHE_HOME = /var/cache/taler-merchant/ TALER_CONFIG_HOME = /etc/taler-merchant/ TALER_DATA_HOME = /var/lib/taler-merchant/ taler-merchant-httpd@bcead3ae4f5e:/etc/taler-merchant$ |
|
|
Low prio for this, folder /var/lib/taler-merchant folder never showed to be used for anything, until now. It still doesn't exist in my live instance. Still not all functionality tested, however. On the other hand, having the exchange folder is just confusing, but not interfering with anything. |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-11-12 19:16 | vecirex | New Issue | |
| 2025-11-12 19:17 | vecirex | Description Updated | |
| 2025-11-12 19:17 | vecirex | Steps to Reproduce Updated | |
| 2025-11-12 19:19 | vecirex | Steps to Reproduce Updated | |
| 2025-11-12 19:19 | vecirex | Note Added: 0026404 | |
| 2025-11-12 19:25 | vecirex | Note Added: 0026405 | |
| 2025-11-12 19:28 | vecirex | Summary | After installing taler-merchant (trixie-test): /var/lib/taler-merchant missing, instead /var/lib/taler-exchange is there => After installing taler-merchant (Deb/trixie-testing): /var/lib/taler-merchant missing, instead /var/lib/taler-exchange is there |
| 2025-11-12 19:28 | vecirex | Note Added: 0026406 | |
| 2025-11-12 22:50 | Christian Grothoff | Note Added: 0026409 | |
| 2025-11-12 22:51 | Christian Grothoff | Note Added: 0026410 | |
| 2025-11-12 22:51 | Christian Grothoff | Assigned To | => vecirex |
| 2025-11-12 22:51 | Christian Grothoff | Status | new => feedback |
| 2025-11-13 15:38 | vecirex | Note Added: 0026426 | |
| 2025-11-13 15:41 | vecirex | Note Edited: 0026426 | |
| 2025-11-18 18:02 | vecirex | Priority | normal => low |
| 2025-11-18 18:02 | vecirex | Note Added: 0026531 | |
| 2025-11-18 18:04 | vecirex | Relationship added | related to 0010561 |
