Package: dpkg Version: 1.21.22 Severity: important X-Debbugs-Cc: jservi...@gmail.com
Dear Maintainer, On multiple Debian 12 (Bookworm) systems, the dpkg-db-backup.service unit begins running at midnight and enters a rapid restart loop. This causes systemd (PID 1) to consume excessive CPU (often 100%) until systemd's start-limit-hit is triggered. The service logs show that it starts and deactivates "successfully", but systemd appears to consider it a failure and restarts it repeatedly. This creates rapid log entries, spawns processes, and can overwhelm lightweight systems (e.g., virtual machines). Steps to reproduce: 1. Let a Debian 12 system idle until midnight with the default timer enabled 2. Observe CPU usage via `top` or `htop` (systemd will be at or near 100%) 3. Check `journalctl -u dpkg-db-backup.service` for repeated start/fail cycles Workaround: Disabling the timer and masking the service resolves the issue: 'sudo systemctl disable --now dpkg-db-backup.timer sudo systemctl mask dpkg-db-backup.service' This behavior affects both virtual and physical Debian 12 machines that have not been modified beyond using Docker and standard updates. Please investigate whether the unit file needs an adjusted Restart= policy or if the script exits too quickly to be considered successful. Thank you! -- Package-specific info: This system uses merged-usr-via-aliased-dirs, going behind dpkg's back, breaking its core assumptions. This can cause silent file overwrites and disappearances, and its general tools misbehavior. See <https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/Dpkg/FAQ#broken-usrmerge>. -- System Information: Debian Release: 12.10 APT prefers stable-updates APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 6.1.0-32-cloud-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU threads; PREEMPT) Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE not set Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) LSM: AppArmor: enabled Versions of packages dpkg depends on: ii libbz2-1.0 1.0.8-5+b1 ii libc6 2.36-9+deb12u10 ii liblzma5 5.4.1-0.2 ii libmd0 1.0.4-2 ii libselinux1 3.4-1+b6 ii libzstd1 1.5.4+dfsg2-5 ii tar 1.34+dfsg-1.2+deb12u1 ii zlib1g 1:1.2.13.dfsg-1 dpkg recommends no packages. Versions of packages dpkg suggests: ii apt 2.6.1 pn debsig-verify <none> -- no debconf information
