Re: [OE-core][PATCH V3 1/2] base-passwd: add clock group

[ChenQi <Qi.Chen@windriver.com>]

On 10/18/25 02:22, Alexander Kanavin wrote:
> On Fri, 17 Oct 2025 at 04:56, Chen Qi via lists.openembedded.org
> <Qi.Chen=windriver.com@lists.openembedded.org> wrote:
>>> Why does this have to go here. Why can't you just update the
>>> GROUPADD_PARAM:${PN} in the systemd recipe to create the clock group:
>>>
>>> GROUPADD_PARAM:${PN} = "-r systemd-journal; -r clock;"
>>>
>>> That way it is only created if systemd is actually used.
>> I consider this clock similar to the 'wheel' and 'kvm' groups. 'wheel'
>> and 'kvm' groups are added here, so I put 'clock' group here.
>>
>>   From my understanding, such groups are likely to be used by other
>> applications (recipes). You can see this from the original commit:
>> https://github.com/systemd/systemd/commit/af96ccfc24bc4803078a46b4ef2cdeb
>>
>> It's possible that applications such as linuxptp will use this clock
>> group. What systemd (udev) does is to change the device's group to
>> 'clock'. This means applications using those devices could be put in
>> 'clock' group to be granted access.
> But how do classic binary distributions handle this? Can you research
> where e.g. Fedora or Debian create this group? We could probably
> follow that, and avoid having to carry an Inappropriate patch. Maybe
> base-passwd upstream already has a fix?
>
> Alex

Hi Alex,

I just checked the fedora:latest container. It also puts 'clock' group 
in a basic setup package, which, according to its description, is 
basically 'base-passwd + base-files' in Yocto.

See commands and results below:
"""
[root@607fbfbf12bb /]# grep clock /etc/group
clock:x:103:
[root@607fbfbf12bb /]# rpm -qf /etc/group
setup-2.15.0-13.fc42.noarch
[root@607fbfbf12bb /]# rpm -qi setup | grep -A 4 Summary
Summary     : A set of system configuration and setup files
Description :
The setup package contains a set of important system configuration and
setup files, such as passwd, group, and profile.
"""

I also checked base-passwd upstream and debian:latest container. 
base-passwd upstream does not have clock group: 
https://salsa.debian.org/debian/base-passwd/-/blob/master/group.master?ref_type=heads. 
And debian:latest is using systemd 257.8 so it does not have this 
'clock' group issue now.

I'll use gid 103 in patch V4 to sync with fedora (though not necessary).

Regards,
Qi