Minimal Install - Post Install Errors

Hello everyone,

I’ve noticed an odd issue when installing from the Boot ISO of AlmaLinux OS 10.2. This is reproducible on hardware and in virtualised setup.

When I complete an install which has been setup using the Minimal option with nothing else selected in the installer, the install completes / computer reboots.

On startup I will switch to root and start executing commands to install various packages. e.g. dnf groupinstall “Workstation” –exclude=firefox > this works fine. I follow this up with the command systemctl set-default graphical.target so GUI is default after reboot. This command and others which rely on systemctl will fail with a message like:

systemd-rc-local-generator [5895]: /etc/rc.d/rc.local is not marked executable, skipping

This is occurring after a clean install when selecting Minimal install option, has anyone else encountered this and found a fix?

Thanks in advance.

Update:

I’ve managed to reproduce a similar issue with RHEL 10.2 as well so I’ve raised a ticket to confirm Bugzilla process as I couldn’t find RHEL listed.

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That is not an error nor failure. It is a mere notification.

The /etc/rc.d/rc.local is a remnant from service management that was used before SystemD. If someone still has a custom service that has not been converted into SystemD unit, then it would be started via the rc.local, and rc.local would have been set executable.

Therefore, SystemD checks the status of rc.local and acts if necessary.
The default is that there is no need to use the rc.local and SystemD merely says so.

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Thanks for your reply.

However, if it’s just a warning message I would expect the command to set the default target and others that work with systemctl to work but they don’t so to me there is something amiss.

Further I’ve noticed if the AlmaLinux install is changed to include e..g. Minimal Install + Standard Tools / Apps from the right hand side this issue doesn’t occur but it’s not appropriate for me to be using the setup because it installs packages that are not appropriate for a workstation setup.

Something, yes.


When I boot AlmaLinux 9, or simply systemctl daemon-reload, I do also get the

systemd-rc-local-generator [pid]: /etc/rc.d/rc.local is not marked executable, skipping

Therefore, it is not something new to the AlmaLinux 10.
(AlmaLinux 8 might not spew that.)

On 9, the man systemd-rc-local-generator writes:

systemd-rc-local-generator is a generator that checks whether /etc/rc.d/rc.local exists and is executable, and if it is, pulls the rc-local.service unit into the boot process. This unit is responsible for running this script during late boot. The script is run after network.target, but in parallel with most other regular system services.

Note that rc-local.service runs with slightly different semantics than the original System V version, which was executed “last” in the boot process, which is a concept that does not translate to systemd.


I’d still guess that the message about rc.local is a red herring – unrelated to the actual issue that you do encounter.

Does journalctl -e reveal anything else (after the rc.local message)?


[EDIT]
I wrote above that I do get the message on 9. I do to logs, but not to console.

I got into AlmaLinux 10 that has only the minimal install.
The systemctl set-default something.target does indeed print the message about rc.local to console, but succeeds.

Thanks for your test in v10.x. When I executed the command and reboot, GDM / GNOME were not started so this is odd. I’ve now done a reproduction on VM / HW and using different EL distros.

Other than trying different HW which I wouldn’t think is linked I’m unsure what else I can do other have Red Hat check.