Messinet Secure Services

Messinet Secure Services has migrated to brand new hardware and also upgraded from Fedora 27 to Fedora 28 with a few notable exceptions. Based on the upstream recommendation, our FreeIPA hosts will remain on Fedora 27 until FreeIPA in Fedora 28 is ready. We’ve also elected to keep our MythTV server on Fedora 27 until 13263 is properly resolved.

We’re quite happy to see that SELinux & systemd integration issues 1471545 & 1486567 that plagued us throughout earlier Fedora releases seem to be resolved in Fedora 28.

Fedora 28 includes systemd sypport for Dynamic Users, which is a little rough around the edges, but progress is being made in 1559281 and 1572200.

SELinux still lacks functional policy support for machinectl, systemd-nspawn and full OS containers. So unfortunately SELinux and systemd integration issues continue to occur regularly at release since Fedora 25 and it remains clear that upstream Fedora isn’t prioritizing SELinux testing prior to release, even with respect to systemd, the init daemon of choice.

With the applicable Messinet Secure Services upgrades complete, we’re no longer building RPMs for Fedora 27 in the Fedora Linux RPM Repository, though encourage you to check out our builds in the Copr Fedora community build service.

The Messinet Secure Services mailing lists have been in operation since May 6, 2006 and it’s time to retire the Mailman software that runs our lists. While a new version of Mailman does exist, it’s far more complex than the needs of the low volume lists served here. So after many years of service, the lists will be shut down this week.

Thank you for being a part of the community!

Messinet Secure Services has migrated to using git-http-backend for remote Smart HTTPS access to our Git repositories. To update the connection information, you will need to reset the git remote url in each of your repositories.

For development projects, use:

$ git remote set-url origin https://messinet.com/git/<project>.git

For RPM package development, use:

$ git remote set-url origin https://messinet.com/git/rpms/<package>.git

Authentication, authorization, and access are Kerberos/GSSAPI aware. You may want to set a few Git configuration options to make things easier. emptyAuth allows libcurl to use the Negotiate authentication mechanism, and cookieFile saves the authentication cookie to speed up sequential requests. See the git-config documentation for more information.

[http "https://messinet.com"]
    cookieFile = /tmp/my-git.cookieFile
    emptyAuth = true
    saveCookies = true
    sslVerify = true
    sslVersion = tlsv1.2

We have also released a new version of msspkg (msspkg-1.30-3.git433ba8f) for packagers in the Fedora Linux RPM Repository.

We’ve upgraded Messinet Secure Services from Fedora 26 to Fedora 27. Again there are a number of SELinux, systemd, gssproxy, and nfs-utils bugs 1494852, 1497267, 1507817, 1514241 affecting our systems that probably should have received more attention before release.

One of the most challenging SELinux & systemd integration bugs is 1471545, whereby the wrong SELinux file context label is placed on /run/systemd/resolve/resolv.conf, causing SELinux AVCs and daemon failures throughout. Unfortunately, the bug’s assignee continues to close the bug as fixed with each new selinux-policy release and no information as to how the fix is to work.

After using MariaDB’s GSSAPI Authentication Plugin with great success in Fedora 26, I was looking to expand GSSAPI/SSO usage in F27, but I was unable to get things to work, and filed 1514820 for more information.

SELinux still doesn’t really have functional policy support for machinectl, systemd-nspawn and full OS containers. The same SELinux and systemd integration issues occurred with the Fedora 25 to Fedora 26 upgrade and it is clear that upstream Fedora doesn’t prioritize SELinux testing enough, especially with respect to systemd, it’s init daemon of choice.

All this too, shall pass and with the Messinet Secure Services upgrades complete, I’m no longer building for Fedora 26, which has been removed from the Fedora Linux RPM Repository.

With even more SELinux & systemd challenges, we’ve upgraded Messinet Secure Services from Fedora 25 to Fedora 26. This same lack of attention to SELinux and systemd integration occurred with the Fedora 24 to Fedora 25 upgrade and it is abundantly clear that upstream Fedora doesn’t value SELinux support for systemd daemons.

Another continuing disappointment is that SELinux still doesn’t really have functional policy support for machinectl, systemd-nspawn and full OS containers.

Even so, the Messinet Secure Services upgrades are complete and I’m no longer building for Fedora 25, which will soon be removed from the Fedora Linux RPM Repository. Of special note, I’ll only be building RPMs for x86_64, as i686 has been downgraded to a secondary arch in Fedora upstream.

The updated X.509 kernel module signing key for UEFI Secure Boot systems is available. Kernel module packages built in our Fedora Linux RPM Repository on or after 2016-12-18 will be signed with the new key.

With some SELinux & systemd challenges, we’ve upgraded Messinet Secure Services from Fedora 24 to Fedora 25. It is clear that upstream Fedora is not getting enough testing for systemd daemons and SELinux 1398854, 1398856. In addition, it’s a bit disappointing that SELinux doesn’t really have policy support for systemd-nspawn and full OS containers.

Fedora 25’s systemd contains a regression 1398886 where CPUQuota= values greater than 100% are invalid. This was fixed upstream in August 2016, but didn’t get backported.

Kerberized NFS support via rpc.gssd is broken due to 1264556, now fixed as described in 1398370. This can be temporarily resolved by running rpc.gssd in the foreground by updating /usr/lib/systemd/system/rpc-gssd.service as shown below, though you’ll run into 1398857.

[Unit]
Description=RPC security service for NFS client and server
DefaultDependencies=no
Conflicts=umount.target
Requires=var-lib-nfs-rpc_pipefs.mount
After=var-lib-nfs-rpc_pipefs.mount

ConditionPathExists=/etc/krb5.keytab

PartOf=nfs-utils.service

Wants=nfs-config.service
After=nfs-config.service

[Service]
EnvironmentFile=-/run/sysconfig/nfs-utils

#Type=forking
#ExecStart=/usr/sbin/rpc.gssd $RPCSVCGSSDARGS
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/rpc.gssd -f $RPCSVCGSSDARGS

All that aside, the upgrades are complete and I’m no longer building for Fedora 24, which is removed from the Fedora Linux RPM Repository.

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! #FlyTheW!

Congratulations to our Chicago Cubs who overtook the Cleveland Indians 8 to 7 in 10 innings to win the World Series for their first time since 1908!

Thank you Cubs for bringing this win to our city!

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Cubs Win! #FlyTheW!

Congratulations to our Chicago Cubs who just won the National League Championship Series to advance to the World Series!

We’ve completed our upgrades from Fedora 23 to Fedora 24 throughout Messinet Secure Services. In general, Fedora 24 has brought us a number of systemd improvements, though there are several SELinux issues when using systemd’s native tools such as systemd-networkd, systemd-resolved, systemd-timesyncd, etc. Many issues: 1317927, 1341829, 1351378, 1355593 generate

SELinux AVC avc: denied { mounton } ...

Even so, the upgrades are complete and I’ll be removing Fedora 23 from the Fedora Linux RPM Repository.