[resolved] syslog-ng-update-virtualenv: what if I ran it?

[mbrehon]

[Edit 2024jan20 to add:] this problem is seemingly unique to syslog-ng-4.2.0 with the python use flag set.

Saw a boot message on a rarely rebooted machine from syslog-ng that said something like you need to run syslog-ng-update-virtualenv. So I did. It ran a few pip installs which I believe is a no-no. From other gentoo docs it is stated that running pip as root can bork your system.

1) Can I tell if my system is now borked?

2) Can I undo it?

thanks,
-Mark

[Edit 2024jan20]: running syslog-ng-update-virtualenv seems to have just added a new dir /var/lib/syslog-ng/python-venv, under which are apparently some python lib installations specific to syslog-ng-4.2.0, untracked by portage, which could cause python lib version issues. Next version of syslog-ng (4.3.1) allegedly fixes this, so I upgraded and removed the python-venv directory. Boots ok (no syslog-ng warning), see how it runs next few days.

[NicoT]

I also noticed this message during boot:

[mbrehon]

Gentoo Python experts, please chime in here if I'm terribly wrong!

what I believe happened to me:
- LARGE CAVEAT: I am NOT a python expert and do not really understand python virtual environments.
- updating from 4.1.? to 4.2.0 created a new virtualenv directory unique to that version of syslog-ng at /var/lib/syslog-ng/python-venv that contains specific versions of python libraries required by syslog-ng-4.2.0 .
- I believe this was a QA oversight either by the upstream packagers or by the gentoo devs (no complaints, thank you volunteers!).
- so after installing syslog-ng-4.2.0 there were two copies of relevant python libraries, 1) the system set, and 2) the syslog-ng-4.2.0 set
- while the versions of those python libraries matched, there was no complaint upon launch of syslog-ng.
- time goes on pkgs get updated, portage knows nothing about those /var/lib/syslog-ng/python-venv libs so they do not get updated thru an 'emerge --update'.
- when there is finally a mismatch between those syslog-4.2.0 specific python libs and the system libs the syslog-ng boot script detects it and displays that boot message.
- so now, even though you've updated to syslog-ng-4.6, that directory (/var/lib/syslog-ng/python-venv) still exists with stale python libs in it causing the boot script warnings.

what I tried to remedy it:
- After updating beyond syslog-ng-4.2.0, I moved that virtualenv directory out of the way so the syslog-ng init script would not find those stale python libs:
[[[ WARNING: POSSIBLY DANGEROUS, but it did work for me ]]]
# mv /var/lib/syslog-ng/python-venv ~/.

result:
- seems to have worked - system now boots with no warning messages for syslog-ng launch and I have not seen any other problems since doing this.
- oh and that dir, /var/lib/syslog-ng/python-venv, has not reappeared thru successive syslog-ng updates.


Hope that helps!

[NicoT]

Thanks for your extensive answer. It seems to work for me too.