[Bug 1291955] Re: Avahi is ignoring symlinks in /etc/avahi/services/

[Bruno Nova]

I inspected the /var/log/syslog log.
Some interesting messages:

avahi-daemon[15290]: Successfully called chroot().
avahi-daemon[15290]: Loading service file /services/udisks.service.

So, Avahi is executed in a chroot?
That could explain why symlinks in /etc/avahi/services/ (to outside of /etc/avahi/) don't work.
If I add a link in /etc/avahi/services/ to a service file in ".." (relative path), Avahi publishes the service successfully.

If this is the case, then this isn't a bug (sorry about that :) ).
But a warning should be added to the documentation of Avahi (especially the avahi.service manpage) so this mistake doesn't happen.
And all packages that install Avahi services this way (symlinking) should be corrected (like phpmyadmin).

I'll wait for confirmation.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1291955

Title:
  Avahi is ignoring symlinks in /etc/avahi/services/

Status in “avahi” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The files listed in /etc/avahi/services/ are published as services by Avahi to the network (if correct).
  However, when a service file is actually a symbolic link to the actual file in another directory, Avahi ignores it and does not publish it (even after a reboot).

  For example:
  Installing phpmyadmin creates a symbolic link /etc/avahi/services/phpmyadmin.service pointing to ../../phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin.service.
  This service isn't listed when executing "avahi-browse -at".
  If I replace the symbolic link with the actual file or with a hard link, the service is published correctly.

  The problem isn't with the phpmyadmin service, because it also occurs
  with other services (for example, with the example services in
  /usr/share/doc/avahi-daemon/examples/).

  I'm using Saucy.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 13.10
  Package: avahi-daemon 0.6.31-2ubuntu4.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-18.32-generic 3.11.10.4
  Uname: Linux 3.11.0-18-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.12.5-0ubuntu2.2
  Architecture: amd64
  Date: Thu Mar 13 11:46:22 2014
  EcryptfsInUse: Yes
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-11-01 (132 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016.1)
  MarkForUpload: True
  SourcePackage: avahi
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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