tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf: Duplicate line for path

[RubenKelevra]

Hi there!

I've been experiencing an issue where the systemd process for cleaning up temporary files occasionally hangs on my system. When it happens, one CPU core is fully utilized at 100% for an indefinite period, without any sign of completion.

Around the same time, I also started seeing a message about a duplicate configuration option during each package installation:

(3/4) Creating temporary files...
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf:35: Duplicate line for path "/var/lib/systemd/coredump", ignoring.

After checking the config files, it appears that there are two conflicting definitions for /var/lib/systemd/coredump:

❯ grep -R "/var/lib/systemd/coredump" /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/ /etc/tmpfiles.d/ /run/tmpfiles.d/
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd-tmp.conf:x  /var/lib/systemd/coredump/.#core*.%b*
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd-tmp.conf:r! /var/lib/systemd/coredump/.#*
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/coredump.conf:d /var/lib/systemd/coredump 0755 root root 3d
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf:d /var/lib/systemd/coredump 0755 root root 2w

These definitions come from two different packages:

❯ pacman -F usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/coredump.conf
usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/coredump.conf is owned by cachyos/cachyos-settings 1:1.1.3-1

❯ pacman -F /usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf
usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf is owned by core/systemd 256.7-1

It seems one of these packages recently introduced this conflicting configuration, which may be linked to the CPU hang issue, though I can’t confirm if it’s the direct cause.

Just wanted to flag this as a potential packaging conflict. Thanks for taking a look!

[1Naim]

It's not correlated.

(3/4) Creating temporary files...
/usr/lib/tmpfiles.d/systemd.conf:35: Duplicate line for path "/var/lib/systemd/coredump", ignoring.

This is ignoring the duration set by us, and is not the cause of whatever hang you're experiencing. With that in mind, our setting is in fact useless here since what get used is systemd's settings instead. I'm not reading that wrong right? cc @ventureoo

[RubenKelevra]

@1Naim I did not change anything, but the hangs are gone. Guess an update fixed them.

[kxxt]

This is ignoring the duration set by us, and is not the cause of whatever hang you're experiencing. With that in mind, our setting is in fact useless here since what get used is systemd's settings instead. I'm not reading that wrong right?

No, the duration set by CachyOS overrides the systemd's setting because coredump.conf comes first lexicographically when compared with system.conf.

Related: systemd/systemd#8809

[1Naim]

This is ignoring the duration set by us, and is not the cause of whatever hang you're experiencing. With that in mind, our setting is in fact useless here since what get used is systemd's settings instead. I'm not reading that wrong right?

No, the duration set by CachyOS overrides the systemd's setting because coredump.conf comes first lexicographically when compared with system.conf.

Related: systemd/systemd#8809

Reading the warning again, that makes sense. Thanks, this clears things up.