ZcashFoundation
Improve error message when Zebra crashes on startup
When using a cache_dir that is a symlink to a storage drive, Zebra crashed. When using the actual path to the storage drive, Zebra runs normally.
Error
Opening database "/home/rav/.zebra/state/v25/testnet" failed: Error { message: "Failed to create RocksDB directory: `Os { code: 13, kind: PermissionDenied, message: \"Permission denied\" }`." }. Hint: Check if another zebrad process is running. Try changing the state cache_dir in the Zebra config.
Metadata
| key | value |
|---|---|
| version | 1.7.0 |
| Zcash network | Testnet |
| running state version | 25.3.0 |
| initial disk state version | creating.new.database |
| features | default,getblocktemplate_rpcs,howudoin,indicatif,progress_bar,release_max_level_info |
| target triple | x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu |
| rust compiler | 1.79.0 |
| rust release date | 2024-06-10 |
| optimization level | 3 |
| debug checks | false |
| location | /home/pitmutt/.cargo/registry/src/index.crates.io-6f17d22bba15001f/zebra-state-1.0.0-beta.37/src/service/finalized_state/disk_db.rs:860:23 |
Thanks for the report. Can you show exactly what you are using in the cache_dir field of the config ?
We maybe need to use https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/fs/fn.canonicalize.html on top of the provided path or similar.
I can't reproduce it. Here is what i tried.
created a link with:
mkdir testing
ln -s /media/alfredo/stuff/chain/zebra /home/alfredo/zebra/issue8617/testing/
config:
cache_dir = "/home/alfredo/zebra/issue8617/testing/zebra"
zebrad starts normally:
$ ./target/debug/zebrad -c myconf.toml start
...
2024-06-17T20:35:06.804374Z INFO zebra_state::service::finalized_state::disk_db: Opened Zebra state cache at /home/alfredo/zebra/issue8617/testing/zebra/state/v25/mainnet
...
Can you describe more your process? I might be doing something wrong or different. Thanks again for your help.
I double checked and realized there was a typo in my symlink, so Zebra was trying to start with a non-existing folder. I think that's what caused the crash.
We should make Zebra fail with a better error so it makes it easier to troubleshoot these sorts of crashes
