{"action":"closed","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/systemd/systemd/issues/3355","repository_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/systemd/systemd","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/systemd/systemd/issues/3355/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/systemd/systemd/issues/3355/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/systemd/systemd/issues/3355/events","html_url":"https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/3355","id":156958070,"number":3355,"title":"Issues with XDG_RUNTIME_DIR when working in HPC environments","user":{"login":"eburgueno","id":7798712,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/7798712?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno","html_url":"https://github.com/eburgueno","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/eburgueno/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[],"state":"closed","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":1,"created_at":"2016-05-26T10:59:42Z","updated_at":"2016-05-26T14:48:47Z","closed_at":"2016-05-26T14:48:47Z","body":"### Submission type\r\n\r\n  - [] Bug report\r\n  - [X ] Request for enhancement (RFE)\r\n\r\n*NOTE: Do not submit anything other than bug reports or RFEs via the issue tracker!*\r\n\r\n### systemd version the issue has been seen with\r\n\r\n> 219\r\n\r\n*NOTE: Do not submit bug reports about anything but the two most recently released systemd versions upstream!*\r\n\r\n### Used distribution\r\n\r\n> RedHat/CentOS 7\r\n\r\nWhen working in an HPC environment, it is common to use a job scheduler to submit jobs from a login host to other servers. Jobs are run in potentially different hosts than the one the user has logged in, so the entire user environment is sent to the execution node (I believe all job schedulers behave this way).\r\n\r\nWhen a job is executed in a remote node, the user is not actually login in. This means `pam-systemd` is never triggered, so `XDG_RUNTIME_DIR` directories are not created. According to [the documentation](https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/file-hierarchy.html#Unprivileged%20Write%20Access), the only ways to trigger their creation is at boot time or at service startup, none of which are the case for job schedulers nor the jobs that they run, as they are not system processes.\r\n\r\nThis causes issues like the one described [here](https://github.com/jupyter/notebook/issues/1411) and [here](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/openlava-users/CFaD5pGMfw0): An application that honours the XDG Base Directory specification checks for the existence of `XDG_*` variables, but then fails when attempting to use them if the user has never logged in, therefore never triggering the creation of said directories.\r\n\r\nAs far as I can see, there is nothing in the specification that mandates that applications relying on XDG directories should make sure that a login session actually exists before using them. Only that they should attempt to create them (which by design would fail for unprivileged processes).\r\n\r\n- Would you suggest that job schedulers ignore XDG variables when submitting jobs to remote nodes where they will not trigger a login?\r\n- Should the application verify the existence of both a) an XDG variable, and b) a current login session, before attempting to use XDG directories?\r\n- Should the XDG spec be amended to clarify the above?\r\n\r\nThanks"}}
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