A few months ago my Ubuntu 18.04 machine started periodically having problems running snaps (so far I’ve tested slack, skype, kubectl)
$ SNAPD_DEBUG=1 SNAP_CONFINE_DEBUG=1 snap run slack
2021/05/20 15:23:53.930136 tool_linux.go:204: DEBUG: restarting into "/snap/core/current/usr/bin/snap"
2021/05/20 15:23:53.956785 cmd_run.go:410: DEBUG: SELinux not enabled
2021/05/20 15:23:53.957008 tracking.go:44: DEBUG: creating transient scope snap.slack.slack
2021/05/20 15:23:53.958773 tracking.go:173: DEBUG: using session bus
2021/05/20 15:25:53.968958 tracking.go:278: DEBUG: StartTransientUnit failed with "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut": [Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1': timed out (service_start_timeout=120000ms)]
error: cannot create transient scope: DBus error "org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.TimedOut": [Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1': timed out (service_start_timeout=120000ms)]
I have not yet been able to determine what causes this issue to start happening, or why it eventually recovers. Reboot does not appear to affect it. Typically I will notice it when Slack becomes unresponsive and cannot be started again. The issue will persist for several hours at a time.
The only workaround is to run the snap as root (sudo kubectl), which is terrifying, especially in the case of slack.
$ snap version
snap 2.50
snapd 2.50
series 16
ubuntu 18.04
kernel 5.4.0-72-generic
Edit: nothing apparent in sudo journalctl -u snapd; today’s logs are just two messages showing no updates available.
The error comes from an attempt to create a separate systemd user scope for the snap application. I think the user instance of systemd or dbus may be dead or unresponsive in your system. When you see this happen, please collect the outputs of the following commands:
journactl --userps -ef|grep -e systemd -e dbusbusctl |grep systemd
Thanks - output below.
journalctl --user
May 21 10:20:03 aconway-le-RVLM dbus-daemon[3434]: [session uid=1000 pid=3434] Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1': timed out (service_start_timeout=120000ms)
journalctl also shows a bunch of gdm/gnome shell mesages which seem unrelated.
ps -ef|grep -e systemd -e dbus
root 1 0 0 May07 ? 00:12:38 /lib/systemd/systemd --system --deserialize 18
root 1379 1 0 May07 ? 00:02:57 /usr/sbin/thermald --no-daemon --dbus-enable
message+ 1382 1 0 May07 ? 00:04:48 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --system --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
root 1443 1 0 May07 ? 00:02:06 /lib/systemd/systemd-logind
gdm 1816 1 0 May07 ? 00:00:04 /lib/systemd/systemd --user
gdm 1905 1816 0 May07 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --session --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
gdm 2220 2215 0 May07 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/usr/share/defaults/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3
alex 3387 1 0 May07 ? 00:51:05 /lib/systemd/systemd --user
alex 3434 3387 0 May07 ? 00:02:34 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --session --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
alex 3557 3552 0 May07 ? 00:00:12 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --config-file=/usr/share/defaults/at-spi2/accessibility.conf --nofork --print-address 3
systemd+ 13311 1 0 May11 ? 00:01:36 /lib/systemd/systemd-resolved
systemd+ 13340 1 0 May11 ? 00:00:02 /lib/systemd/systemd-timesyncd
root 13379 1 0 May11 ? 00:01:06 /lib/systemd/systemd-journald
root 14024 1 0 May12 ? 00:00:02 /lib/systemd/systemd --user
root 14219 1 0 May11 ? 00:00:33 /lib/systemd/systemd-udevd
alex 18374 20095 0 10:20 pts/4 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -e systemd -e dbus
root 19291 14024 0 May13 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/dbus-daemon --session --address=systemd: --nofork --nopidfile --systemd-activation --syslog-only
busctl |grep systemd
:1.106 3387 systemd alex :1.106 user@1000.service - -
:1.21 1443 systemd-logind root :1.21 systemd-logind.service - -
:1.2432 1 systemd root :1.2432 init.scope - -
:1.2433 13311 systemd-resolve systemd-resolve :1.2433 systemd-resolved.service - -
:1.27 1816 systemd gdm :1.27 user@121.service - -
:1.3111 14024 systemd root :1.3111 user@0.service - -
org.freedesktop.DBus 1 systemd root - init.scope - -
org.freedesktop.login1 1443 systemd-logind root :1.21 systemd-logind.service - -
org.freedesktop.resolve1 13311 systemd-resolve systemd-resolve :1.2433 systemd-resolved.service - -
org.freedesktop.systemd1 1 systemd root :1.2432 init.scope - -
This is supposed to work. I think you should file a bug with your distribution. This could be a problem with dbus or systemd.
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