Summary

Inventory gathering ndtrack processes on Unix-like operating systems may terminate unexpectedly while attempting to gather Java version details if the output from a "java" executable is atypical.

Symptoms

When this issue occurs, ndtrack processes will terminate with a segmentation fault and output in the tracker.log file from the ndtrack process will stop after logging that looks like either of the following:

[Wed 05 Jan 2022 10:05:28 AM -03 (G, 0)] {17500} The file '/usr/java/jre7/bin/java' has been detected as a possible package registry
[...]
[Wed 05 Jan 2022 10:05:41 AM -03 (G, 0)] {17500} IBM MQ inventory was unsuccessful either because it is not installed or there was an error.

Or:

[Wed 05 Jan 2022 10:05:28 AM -03 (G, 0)] {17500} The file '/usr/java/jre7/bin/java' has been detected as a possible package registry
[...]
[Wed 05 Jan 2022 10:05:41 AM -03 (G, 0)] {17500} Java product: "Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment", full version: "8.1.037", publisher: "", install location: "/usr/java/jre8/bin".

Cause

This issue is caused by a failure by the ndtrack process to handle atypical output from the following command using a java executable file found somewhere on the filesystem:

java -fullversion

Output from this command typically includes version information. An example is:

java full version "1.8.0_20-b26"

If output from a java executable file found on the filesystem is substantially different in form from the above then this issue may occur.

In particular, log message(s) in the tracker.log file stating:

The file '<path>/java' has been detected as a possible package registry

will identify a <path> that does not appear in a subsequent log message:

Java project: <details...>

One of the java executables thus identified will be triggering this issue.

Workaround

Various tracker (ndtrack) component preferences can be set to stop the inventory gathering process from performing the problematic operation (with the tradeoff that it will limit the inventory data that is gathered):

1. Set the JavaFullVersion preference to false to disable gathering full Java version details using the "-fullversion" command line option. (Partial version details will still be gathered using the "-version" command line option.)
2. Set the PerformJavaScan preference to false to disable gathering all Java version details.
3. Set preferences related to filesystem scanning to limit file scanning to avoid finding the problematic java executable file. For example, set the ExcludeDirectory preference to the directory path containing the java file.

Additional information

Also see the following known issue which has similar symptoms but a different root cause: Inventory gathering may hang on Unix-like operating systems if executable bit is set on a non executable file named "java" (IOJ-2072459)

Fix status

This issue has been fixed in the following FlexNet Manager Suite releases: 2021 R1.4 / Mar 2022 (Cloud), 2022 R1 (On Premises)

Other information

Affected components: Agent, Inventory

Master issue ID: IOJ-2241253

Also known as: FNML-75025