RHBA-2011:1649 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated udev packages that fix various bugs and add an enhancement are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The udev packages implement a dynamic device-directory, providing only the
devices present on the system. This dynamic directory runs in user space,
dynamically creates and removes devices, provides consistent naming, and a
user-space API. The udev package replaces the devfs package and provides better
hot plug functionality.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, a udev rule used the modem-modeswitch callout on the Vodafone

K3565-Z 3G modem. As a consequence, a medium in a virtual CD-ROM drive could not
be ejected to activate the modem functionality. Now, the modem-modeswitch
callout is no longer used for this device and a medium is automatically ejected
instead, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#632646)

• The path_id utility did not create symbolic links for SAS (Serial Attached

SCSI) devices without enclosures. Consequently, udev did not create a symbolic
link in the /dev/disk/by-path/ directory and the device could not be accessed by
this path. This bug has been fixed, udev now follows the naming scheme of its
upstream version 171, and symbolic links for SAS devices are now created in the
following format: sas-[sas_address]-[lun]". In this format, [sas_address] stands
for the contents of the sas_address file of the device, located in the /sys
subdirectory, and [lun] represents the logical unit number of the device.
(BZ#698540)

• The path_id utility did not create symbolic links for iSCSI (Internet SCSI)

devices. Consequently, udev did not create a symbolic link in the
/dev/disk/by-path/ directory and the device could not be accessed by this path.
This bug has been fixed, udev now follows the naming scheme of its upstream
version 171, and symbolic links for iSCSI devices are now created in the
following format: "ip-[address]:[port]-iscsi-[target]-[lun]". In this format,
[lun] represents the logical unit number of the device. (BZ#714951)

• When udev renamed a network interface and encountered a naming conflict, it

renamed the interface to "[initial name]-[desired name]". Sometimes, this name
was not unique and the naming conflict persisted. This bug has been fixed, udev
now uses the unique interface index for renaming, and temporary names for
interfaces are now of the following format: "rename[ifindex]". (BZ#701265)

• Prior to this update, the libgudev1 package had no explicit package version

requirement on the libudev library. As a consequence, it was possible to update
libudev without updating libgudev1, which could lead to inconsistencies, if the
ABI (application binary interface) changed in libudev. With this update, the
libgudev1 spec file has been updated, and the package now requires libudev
explicitly, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#727500)

• Previously, the result buffer to store the output of programs started with the

IMPORT directive was too short in some cases. Consequently, the "ERR udevd-work:
ressize 4096 too short" error messages were returned, and the system sometimes
became non-operational. Now, the result buffer has been increased to 16kB, thus
fixing this bug. (BZ#726566)

• Previously, when traversing the list of devices internal to udev, the libvirtd

daemon terminated unexpectedly in the udev_enumerate_get_list_entry() function.
This bug has been fixed and libvirtd no longer crashes in the described
scenario. (BZ#696651)

• Previously, for Xen block devices, udev did not provide information acquired

by the blkid utility, such as the filesystem label or UUID. Consequently, no
symbolic links in the /dev/disk/{by-uuid,by-label,by-id} directories were
created. With this update, these symbolic links are created for Xen block
devices as expected, thus fixing this bug. (BZ#731400)

This update adds the following enhancement:

• The default I/O scheduler (CFQ) parameters for all disk types, except SATA

disks, have been changed as follows:

slice_idle=0
quantum=32

(BZ#711254)

All users of udev are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add this enhancement.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously-released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/kb/docs/DOC-11259

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

• BZ - 632646 - Vodafone 3G modem not working
• BZ - 696651 - libvirtd segfaults on startup inside udev_enumerate_get_list_entry()
• BZ - 701265 - udev should use the ifindex for temporary name for interface renaming
• BZ - 714951 - udev's path_id does not handle isci managed devices
• BZ - 727500 - libgudev is missing libudev requirement with version and release
• BZ - 731400 - udev doesn't do full environment generation on some xen blk devices

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)