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HAL not starting on Lenny/Sid

Hello,

I recently reinstalled debian by installing Etch and then dist-upgraded to Lenny. Since that time HAL simply will not start. As a result, gnome-volume-manager wont run either which I found extrememly useful. Here are some outputs of various commands:

Code:

adz@hades:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/hal start

Starting Hardware abstraction layer: haldadz@hades:~$

No errors but no HAL running.

Code:

adz@hades:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart

Stopping Hardware abstraction layer: hald.

Stopping Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Daemon: avahi-daemon.

Stopping System Tools Backends: system-tools-backends.

Stopping system message bus: dbus.

Starting system message bus: dbus.

Starting System Tools Backends: system-tools-backends.

Starting Avahi mDNS/DNS-SD Daemon: avahi-daemon.

Starting Hardware abstraction layer: haldinvoke-rc.d: initscript hal, action "start" failed.

Generates an error but I have no idea what this means. I've tried looking in /etc/init.d/hal for "haldinvoke" or whatever else and I can't find it.

Now, manually running hald:

Code:

adz@hades:~$ sudo hald --daemon=yes --verbose=yes

21:34:20.307 [I] hald.c:529: hal 0.5.9.1

21:34:20.308 [I] hald.c:538: Will daemonize

21:34:20.308 [I] hald.c:539: Becoming a daemon

Looks like it's doing something but nothing actually happens. There is no process called "hald" running.

Web search turned up nothing. I have no idea what's wrong since I can't get any useful error messages. Anyone have any ideas?

in the man page for it, it recommends saying dameon=no and verbose=yes. It gives alot more output that way I think. At least it did for my friend...

Finally! Thanks for the tip. I finally got it working because of you. Do you want to know what the problem was? There was no group called "haldaemon". That's all. I created the group and now it works. What a load off my mind.

I think I have exactly the same problem.

Can you explain me how you have created the group ?

You just use the command addgroup haldaemon. You have to be root, though, so either run su beforehand or use the command sudo addgroup haldaemon instead.

Thanks fior your reply.

Should I have to add users to this group ?

No that wont be necessary. You may need to add the user "haldaemon", though. Try without first and see how you go. I think hald simply runs as the user "haldaemon" and with only those permissions it needs. Hence the need for a "haldaemon" group.

It does not work, I still have this group.

My problem is related to the new kernel installed because, on the old kernel, everything is working well, I do not have any problem.

Any idea ?

run
hald --dameon=no --verbose=yes
and it should tell you what it's angry about.

Do as war1025 suggested. Also, did you compile your own kernel or is it a prebuilt debian one?

Hello,

the output from hald in verbose-mode is as follows on my Debian Lenny with 2.6.22.1. See also Debian-Bug #426049.

Code:

root@shibuya:~> hald --daemon=no --verbose=yes

10:07:43.504 [I] hald.c:529: hal 0.5.9.1

10:07:43.505 [I] hald.c:594: Will not daemonize

10:07:43.506 [I] hald_dbus.c:4807: local server is listening at unix:abstract=/var/run/hald/dbus-lXxeHtE46Y,guid=ad6400d14d113915c26f860046a3104f

Runner started - allowed paths are '/usr/lib/hal:/usr/lib/hal/scripts:/usr/bin'

10:07:43.517 [I] hald_runner.c:299: Runner has pid 8001

10:07:43.519 [W] ci-tracker.c:200: Could not get uid for connection: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.NameHasNoOwner Could not get UID of name 'org.freedesktop.DBus': no such name

10:07:43.520 [E] hald_dbus.c:4462: Cannot get caller info for org.freedesktop.DBus

10:07:43.520 [I] hald_runner.c:180: runner connection is 0x8092858

10:07:43.533 [I] mmap_cache.c:251: cache mtime is 1185090119

*** [DIE] osspec.c:watch_fdi_files():349 : Unable to initialize inotify: Function not implemented

I'm about to recompile my kernel with Inotify-support and see if this fixes hald.

Adrian