templates_c directory flooded with %% directories owned by root

[jern]

This is a strange thing. The templates_c/en_US/en_GB directory is fine for a while, containing %% directories owned by the web-server user. But then it suddenly fills with hundreds of directories owned by root. At this point, CiviCRM stops working. If I delete all the %% folders from en_GB, then all is back to normal; new %% directories are created as normal, owned by the web server user, until at some point the flood of root-owned folders starts again and fills up to %%FF.

How can CiviCRM be creating directories owned by root? More to the point, how can I stop it? Thanks.

[jern]

UPDATE:

I have tracked the problem down to the job Update Individual Addressees, which was set to run hourly. Running this job seems to trigger the filling of the templates_c directory with 256 %% directories (with root permissions) within a very short time (less than a minute).  I disabled the job, and the problem has stopped.

Not sure if it's a problem with our installation, or with the job parameters (ct=Individual, gt=addressee, force=1), but this seems unlikely. The demo site is only version 4.4, so I can't test it there (the problem has only appeared since 4.5.3).

Should I report this as a bug? What concerns me most is that CiviCRM is able to create directories with root permissions - how can this be possible? Surely nothing in Civi has root permissions?

[Michael McAndrew]

Surely nothing in Civi has root permissions?

That depends on how you have set things up

The demo site is only version 4.4

There are 4.4, 4.5 and master versions of the demo sites, e.g. d44.demo.civicrm.org, d45.demo.civicrm.org, dmaster.demo.civicrm.org

How can CiviCRM be creating directories owned by root?

I suspect this happens because your cron jobs are running as root. You might want to change the user to www-data or similar.

[Michael McAndrew]

PS not sure that is going to solve your problem, but a good first step. Let us know how you get on, please

[calbasi]

I've got this issue too, in a 4.4.7 CiviCRM...

[JonGold]

calbasi,

I think Michael's response, that this is most likely caused by your cron job running as root, is very likely your issue.  When you check that, would you be able to report back here what you found?  Thanks!

Jon

[jern]

Hi, thanks. Sorry for delay. I double checked - the cron job runs under the normal admin username which I used for installing CiviCRM. Not a root in sight.

Maybe the problem was the use of the "force=1" option. I will reactivate with force=0 and see if the error still happens.

Still doesn't explain how the %% directories are being created with root permissions, though.

[Michael McAndrew]

Maybe the problem was the use of the "force=1" option. I will reactivate with force=0 and see if the error still happens.

Pretty sure that will not affect it.

Hi, thanks. Sorry for delay. I double checked - the cron job runs under the normal admin username which I used for installing CiviCRM. Not a root in sight.

How exactly are you calling the cron?

[jern]

...after lengthy pause...

calling cron from the system crontab, which I guess means that the cron job is running with root privileges.