Bug#1063474: insserv messages about loops are too obtuse

[Jakob Bohm]

Package: insserv
Version: 1.18.0-2
Severity: minor

Dear Maintainer,

When insserv reports that it sees a dependency loop between some init
scripts, it does so in a very obtuse way by providing message lines that
mention one half of a dependency pair, but not what it thinks depends on
what and how that forms a loop:

--- Expected output (with pseudo names): ---
insserv: There is a loop between service foo and bar for start action
insserv:  loop step 1: foo depends on baz
insserv:  loop step 2: baz depends on $quux
insserv:  loop step 3: $quux includes quuux in /etc/insserv.conf.d/02buggy.conf
insserv:  loop step 4: quuux depends on bar
insserv:  loop step 5: bar depends on foo
--- END Expected output (with pseudo names): ---

--- Actual output (with pseudo names): ---
insserv: There is a loop between service foo and bar if started
insserv:  loop involving service baz at depth 911
insserv:  loop involving service quuux at depth 888
--- END Actual output (with pseudo names): ---

In the actual output, the depth numbers are meaningless and the
phrasing suggests incomplete out of order information.  Also it
doesn't state when/if/how configuration files participate in the
loops.  In my preferred example, all loop steps are shown, lines
are numbered to help dealing with accidental output mangling on
an emergency serial console, and rules from config files are called
out with specificity and origin.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 10.13
   APT prefers oldoldstable-updates
   APT policy: (500, 'oldoldstable-updates'), (500, 'oldoldstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 5.10.0-0.deb10.26-amd64 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_DK.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_DK.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US:en (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)

Versions of packages insserv depends on:
ii  libc6  2.28-10+deb10u2

insserv recommends no packages.

Versions of packages insserv suggests:
pn  bootchart2  <none>

-- no debconf information

Enjoy

Jakob
-- 
Jakob Bohm, CIO, Partner, WiseMo A/S.  https://www.wisemo.com
Transformervej 29, 2860 Søborg, Denmark.  Direct +45 31 13 16 10
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