seaf-cli status fails with traceback

[gschintgen]

Hi, I couldn't get seaf-cli to work as intended. It fails rather hard with some uncaught error(s):

root@seafcli-backup:~# mkdir seafile-client
root@seafcli-backup:~# seaf-cli init -d seafile-client
Writen seafile data directory /root/seafile-client/seafile-data to /root/.ccnet/seafile.ini
root@seafcli-backup:~# seaf-cli status
New device id created
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/seaf-cli", line 866, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/seaf-cli", line 862, in main
    args.func(args)
  File "/usr/bin/seaf-cli", line 660, in seaf_status
    tasks = seafile_rpc.get_clone_tasks()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pysearpc/client.py", line 110, in newfunc
    ret_str = self.call_remote_func_sync(fcall_str)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pysearpc/named_pipe.py", line 82, in call_remote_func_sync
    self.transport.connect()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pysearpc/named_pipe.py", line 44, in connect
    self.pipe_fd.connect(self.socket_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 228, in meth
    return getattr(self._sock,name)(*args)
socket.error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
root@seafcli-backup:~# seaf-cli start
Starting seafile daemon ...
Started: seafile daemon ...
root@seafcli-backup:~# seaf-cli status
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/seaf-cli", line 866, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/bin/seaf-cli", line 862, in main
    args.func(args)
  File "/usr/bin/seaf-cli", line 660, in seaf_status
    tasks = seafile_rpc.get_clone_tasks()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pysearpc/client.py", line 110, in newfunc
    ret_str = self.call_remote_func_sync(fcall_str)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pysearpc/named_pipe.py", line 82, in call_remote_func_sync
    self.transport.connect()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/pysearpc/named_pipe.py", line 44, in connect
    self.pipe_fd.connect(self.socket_path)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 228, in meth
    return getattr(self._sock,name)(*args)
socket.error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory

Do note that:

• I followed the official manual (specifically: https://help.seafile.com/en/syncing_client/linux-cli.html) except for the fact that I issued seaf-cli status a first time before running seaf-cli start, but this should not result in a broken setup.
• The transcript above is from inside a LXD container running an unmodified basic Ubuntu 18.04 image. (I run lots of other stuff in various LXD containers without issue, so LXD should have no incidence on seaf-cli.)

I did not ask in the forums first because in my opinion this is clearly a bug: following the official documentation should not result in uncaught exceptions with python tracebacks.

Any help/workaround/fix would be much appreciated.