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nobodyuknow

Member

Registered: 2017-09-10

Posts: 174  

obscure and destructive bug involving avahi-daemon and GRUB

I ran into an obscure and destructive bug involving avahi-daemon and GRUB. Keep in mind that I'm writing this from memory, as I had no idea what what was going on until after the incident, so I could have a fact wrong. I'm running Devuan 4.0 MATE via an external SSD (AMD processor).

I learned a long time ago that I needed to uninstall avahi-daemon to prevent my system seeing printers in one of the libraries I visit. I always thought it was strange that only this library had this problem.

I always have to edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg after a new kernel is installed to eliminate (comment-out) the Windows section, as I don't want a dual-boot. So I did some research and learned of /etc/default/grub. Linux wikis, especially Arch, noted that a line in that file, GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true, might allow me to avoid editing the file any more. So I edited that file and executed update-grub.

Wi-Fi crashed. At first I thought I had only screwed up Linux, but then I tried Windows 10. No Wi-Fi. I went and spoke with a librarian and she informed me that everything related to the Internet was down: Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and VOIP.

HOLY COW, I CRASHED THE LIBRARY!

No, I won't repeat it to confirm everything.

I went back and looked at Synaptic and realized that I had somehow forgotten to uninstall avahi-daemon.

Since this is the only library to allow me to see printers, I suspect that the admins have configured their system wrong somehow. Librarians think all patrons are children, so there's no point in trying to alert the admins, as the message would not be forwarded.

steve_v

Member

Registered: 2018-01-11

Posts: 381  

Re: obscure and destructive bug involving avahi-daemon and GRUB

* OS-prober and avahi have nothing whatsoever to do with each other.
* If something as benign as mdns service discovery (avahi) "crashes" a network, that's the network admins problem. Likewise if their printers are discoverable on public wifi when they shouldn't be.
* Don't claim "bug" in a piece of software (or OS) unless you come with enough information and reproduction steps to identify it as such. One anecdote (and probably completely coincidental) is not even remotely that.

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Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

czeekaj

Member

Registered: 2019-06-12

Posts: 154  

Re: obscure and destructive bug involving avahi-daemon and GRUB

avahi has a few dependencies. You can remove it though. You don't really need that frame work.