Release notes for Excito Bubba 2&3 software version 2.6

Gordon · Post by **Gordon** » 01 Aug 2013, 13:53

elsbernd wrote: I'm a sysadmin for non-linux and non-windows systems . But within the company I work for, there is no such database system having no passwords. Never. And we're behind a firewall and we trust (ähm) all our users. So it's good practice to have a password on all data-systems.

While that appears to make sense, it actually doesn't. The thing is that the MySQL server on the B3 doesn't even expose itself, so you have to be running a process on the B3 itself to be able to access any database that is provided by this server. Also the B3 is not your typical high end machine where you would host a multi-user database and it would therefore make more sense to direct applications on the B3 to use an outside server than to enable outside access to MySQL on the B3.

And besides you already know that setting a password on the MySQL root account breaks the regular update/upgrade routine on the B3 and requires you to do the updates from console so that you can respond to interactions that are not handled by the web interface.

elsbernd wrote:The installer tries to upgrade the existing database abd fails with the error messag
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 mysql said: ERROR 1060 (42S21) at line 1: Duplicate column name 'created'
I had to
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alter table image drop created ; drop index last_activity_idx on sessions;
then the installation of
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apt-get install bubba-album
runs through.
Thanks again, I learned much more about b3.

Really?
What I think is that your system is f*cked up. What you said is that you forcibly removed bubba-album, but the installer still wanted to do updates to a database that didn't exist. In other words: according to the installer you were upgrading from a previous version. You could say that the installer is kind of dumn this way, because it doesn't check if anyone deleted the database at some point. Second strange thing is that even though you had removed the package bubba-album, you apparently still had the SQL script to create the tables for the bubba-album database, which is part of that package and should have been gone as well. And so now you reinstalled the package and again it thought it was running as an upgrade, so there must have been some kind of version stamping still around, and tried to make changes to a database that was created with the correct layout already and therefore again causing errors while creating duplicate entries.

I told someone else and I'm telling you now: if you make changes to the system make sure not to conflict with (the behaviour of) core Bubba components. Work around them or take precautions so that the changes become unnoticed to these packages. In your case: add the .my.cnf file to (the root only readable) /root (chmod the file to 600 to make sure) - do note that the password that you assign to the MySQL root doesn't have to be the same as the one for root/admin/administrator anywhere else on the network.

elsbernd · Post by **elsbernd** » 02 Aug 2013, 11:40

Gordon wrote:What I think is that your system is f*cked up.

Freedom, please calm down

The "true" story is: I changed the mysql login from none to something useful. I didn't notice that from then on the album feature didn't work any more. Well, I don't needed that feature. I only need a nas storage.

Well then, when the update from to 2.5.2 was available, I used the web-interface to update the software, which then failed. And it took me a lot time to a) figure out, what happened, and hours trying to restore the unused password in b3. And that failed!!!
All provided solution didn't worked. That's the cause of the following problems. It seems not possible to re-instate an unused password. It is only possible to have a clear password, or a password to set to something useful.

Now, month later, since 2.6 is available, I tried to manual upgrade the system, and it failed to upgrade bubba-album. I assume, that at that point, the installation has left some files in the system.

Because I knew, that I cleared the password, suggested by some posts in the past, and the installer wanted a password to upgrade, I reinstalled a known password.
I provided the password, and the installation failed again! Not, because it couldn't access the db.

Because I didn't used the bubba-album feature, (the contents of the mysql-db album could be removed), I tried to remove the package bubba-album forcibly and re-install it. A procedure, which should have worked.

Then the installation process wanted the password of the db. No problem!
Then he complained about a column already there. Because the newly installed album was created with the new needed column "created" in the image table.
And the installation didn't recognized this, because he assumed an upgrade of an old mysql-db.
Your suggestion to create the album db (because it was possible removed during the package remove, don't really know) didn't make it better, because it installed the new table structure, including the column created and the index last_activity_idx.

So I only wanted to honor your suggestion how to create the album database again and that you drove me into the right direction. I solved the problems with the column created, the index last_activity_idx and the password.
So my system isn't f.. up.
And I didn't say "... that the installer is kind of dumn this way" and this was not my intention.
And I only want a solution to my problem.

A last remark:

if you make changes to the system make sure not to conflict with (the behaviour of) core Bubba components

Well, excito invited the user to do so explicitly. Well maybe the user should know, what they do

And opening mysql for other usage should be within the possibilities of a system. As an example, I bought mailsteward pro for my mac to archive mails on an external mail server using mysql. Therefore I had to open the mysql service to the local network. And that is a service, that should be no problem for the system. But now, I'm wiser.

Gordon · Post by **Gordon** » 02 Aug 2013, 18:47

I apologize, you were just that one too many with your statement that essentially said "I don't like your solution, so I will keep on doing what I'm doing and complain about it". Other reasons caused me to use harsher words than were called for by you.

But in fact you still don't see the error in your own actions. Yes Excito invites you to alter the system to your own needs, but that doesn't mean that you should expect them to make their updates to the system follow whatever you've done. The key thing here is that everything that's on the B3 and wasn't put on there by you, is there on purpose. It is either a key component or it is optional, where in the latter case the web interface allows you to toggle that service on or off. So the quick conclusion here is that MySQL is a key component and you decided to shield it for the OS developers - this is like adding a firewall rule denying access to the Microsoft update site and then complaining that you're not getting critical updates.

And I didn't say "... that the installer is kind of dumn this way"

Damn right you didn't... I did. Whatever smartness one would ever assign to a piece of software always comes down to what the programmer put into it. The installer doesn't go thinking spontaneously that it should go and ask elsbernd for a password, because it simply follows the programmer's rules whose mind never crossed the idea that someone would want to fiddle with it. And in terms of trust: would you enter a system password on a non-secure http line if you're not even willing to save a non-vital password in a file that can only be accessed by a superuser? Also: how safe do you actually think that encrypted passwords are if the system needs to be able to decrypt them in order to use them? e.g. Your (Linux driven) internet access point will most likely contain the password that your provider gave you to get connected; do you know if that's stored in plain text or encrypted? Does it actually even matter?

PS Opening up the MySQL database server for multi-user access sounds really bold to me. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever think of hosting any type of relational database on this sort of hardware to physical users. It might do the job perfectly though for ISAM type access.

Ubi · Post by **Ubi** » 03 Aug 2013, 03:06

And to add to that, if you have a user that is able to read a password from a textfil that is chmod600 root, that user can also copy your entire database or restart mysql without grant tables...

If the installer would just read the pwd from /root/.my.cnf this whole thread would not be necessary, and many others like it in this forum.

elsbernd · Post by **elsbernd** » 03 Aug 2013, 09:25

The key thing here is that everything that's on the B3 and wasn't put on there by you, is there on purpose.

and

The installer doesn't go thinking spontaneously that it should go and ask elsbernd for a password, because it simply follows the programmer's rules whose mind never crossed the idea that someone would want to fiddle with it.

My native language isn't English, so sorry if I haven't made clear enough what I wanted to say:
I never complained about the software asking me for a password, because I have changed it to something. I'm fully aware, that the software would ask for it. And the software installer asked for it. And that doesn't bother me.

In fact nothing of this system annoys me. I'm aware of it's limits. I'm willing to play with it and I'm accept, that something could go wrong.

And something went wrong. My fault. No problem.
Something in the process of upgrading the system failed to upgrade bubba-album. And the failure was not (IMHO), that the update process asked for a password. I happily typed that one in, when the software asked for it.
The failed automatic update had removed at some time the album-db and I want to reinstate this database. (*)
My question was only, how to reinstate this database.
And I managed it with the hint posted by Gordon.

And as a usual habit of me, I describe in detail, what happened. In the case that something I wrote rings some bells.

Maybe, we should go on to the next problems, because I hesitate already to ask other questions.

(*)(again, My fault, because I changed the password from nothing to something else, and no one in the community could give a hint, how to put the mysql system in its initial state. This problem is still open.)

Gordon · Post by **Gordon** » 03 Aug 2013, 17:31

elsbernd wrote:(*)(again, My fault, because I changed the password from nothing to something else, and no one in the community could give a hint, how to put the mysql system in its initial state. This problem is still open.)

I don't think so. The challenge is that the provided update routine requires user root to be able to log into MySQL as user root without being asked for a password. The answers provided in that previous subject fulfilled that requirement, as most likely does the above tip about the .my.cnf file.

Yes you may be happy to provide a password when asked, but why did you decide to do the upgrade to the current software version from console instead of what everyone else would do, which is press the update button in the web interface? And I'll give you the answer right now: because you knew that pressing that button wouldn't work because of what you changed on the system. That may not spell f*cked up in your dictionary, but it does in mine. You crippled a key part of the Bubba management system.

And whatever happened to your bubba-album database and when that did happen is anyone's guess. Apparently though it was an issue back then and it definitely turned out to be an issue this time. And even while we may have fixed it for now, not knowing what happened in the first place may mean that it can happen again if you maintain that non standard behaviour on your system.

And I will most likely be prepared to help you next time it breaks again, but right now I feel annoyed that you're not willing to take precautions to prevent recurrence. However happy you may feel about entering passwords...

Ubi · Post by **Ubi** » 04 Aug 2013, 04:27

I think this thread has gone far enough en has lost interest for the general population.

Post by **Binkem** » 05 Aug 2013, 03:51

I agree with Ubi,

If you want to keep dicussing this subject please make it a seperate topic.
I will remove all new off-topic posts.

Martijn

ingo2 · Post by **ingo2** » 16 Aug 2013, 14:41

I did experience the same troubles while upgrading with