nice fails with EACCES/Permission denied #1838

iltep64 · 2017-03-31T11:58:31Z

nice fails to set priority on process, failing with permission denied.

Expected (build <=14986)

$ nice -n 5 nice
5

Actual (build >=15048)

$ nice -n 5 nice
nice: cannot set nicencess: Permission denied
0

Windows build
15063 (issue started on 15048)
Steps / All commands required to reproduce the error from a brand new installation
Run nice -n 5 nice.
Strace of the failing command

execve("/usr/bin/nice", ["nice", "-n", "5", "nice"], [/* 12 vars */]) = 0
brk(NULL)                               = 0x7ee000
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7ffb68ac0000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=24701, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 24701, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7ffb68ab9000
close(3)                                = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0P\t\2\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1864888, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 3967392, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7ffb68430000
mprotect(0x7ffb685ef000, 2097152, PROT_NONE) = 0
mmap(0x7ffb687ef000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1bf000) = 0x7ffb687ef000
mmap(0x7ffb687f5000, 14752, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7ffb687f5000
close(3)                                = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7ffb68ab0000
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7ffb68aa0000
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7ffb68a90000
arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x7ffb68aa0700) = 0
mprotect(0x7ffb687ef000, 16384, PROT_READ) = 0
mprotect(0x607000, 4096, PROT_READ)     = 0
mprotect(0x7ffb68a25000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
munmap(0x7ffb68ab9000, 24701)           = 0
brk(NULL)                               = 0x7ee000
brk(0x80f000)                           = 0x80f000
open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1668976, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 1668976, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7ffb6888d000
close(3)                                = 0
getpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0)            = 20
setpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0, 5)         = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
open("/usr/share/locale/locale.alias", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=2995, ...}) = 0
read(3, "# Locale name alias data base.\n#"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "See the\n# GNU General Public Lic"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "nd for the time being for\n# back"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "hese lines were removed\n# becaus"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "8859-1\ngalego\t\tgl_ES.ISO-8859-1\n"..., 512) = 512
read(3, "O.ISO-8859-1 nb_NO.ISO-8859-1\nno"..., 512) = 435
read(3, "", 512)                        = 0
close(3)                                = 0
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/coreutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(2, "nice: ", 6nice: )                   = 6
write(2, "cannot set niceness", 19cannot set niceness)     = 19
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en.utf8/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale-langpack/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(2, ": Permission denied", 19: Permission denied)     = 19
write(2, "\n", 1
)                       = 1
execve("/usr/local/sbin/nice", ["nice"], [/* 12 vars */]) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
execve("/usr/local/bin/nice", ["nice"], [/* 12 vars */]) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
execve("/usr/sbin/nice", ["nice"], [/* 12 vars */]) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
execve("/usr/bin/nice", ["nice"], [/* 12 vars */]) = 0
brk(NULL)                               = 0x1357000
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f99a5ca0000
access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=24701, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 24701, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f99a5ca3000
close(3)                                = 0
access("/etc/ld.so.nohwcap", F_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0P\t\2\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1864888, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 3967392, PROT_READ|PROT_EXEC, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7f99a5630000
mprotect(0x7f99a57ef000, 2097152, PROT_NONE) = 0
mmap(0x7f99a59ef000, 24576, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0x1bf000) = 0x7f99a59ef000
mmap(0x7f99a59f5000, 14752, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_FIXED|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f99a59f5000
close(3)                                = 0
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f99a5c90000
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f99a5c80000
mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7f99a5c70000
arch_prctl(ARCH_SET_FS, 0x7f99a5c80700) = 0
mprotect(0x7f99a59ef000, 16384, PROT_READ) = 0
mprotect(0x607000, 4096, PROT_READ)     = 0
mprotect(0x7f99a5c25000, 4096, PROT_READ) = 0
munmap(0x7f99a5ca3000, 24701)           = 0
brk(NULL)                               = 0x1357000
brk(0x1378000)                          = 0x1378000
open("/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=1668976, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 1668976, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7f99a5a8d000
close(3)                                = 0
getpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0)            = 20
fstat(1, {st_mode=S_IFCHR|0660, st_rdev=makedev(4, 3), ...}) = 0
ioctl(1, TCGETS, {B38400 opost isig icanon echo ...}) = 0
write(1, "0\n", 20
)                      = 2
close(1)                                = 0
close(2)                                = 0
exit_group(0)                           = ?
+++ exited with 0 +++

Required packages and commands to install
None, /usr/bin/nice is from coreutils.

The text was updated successfully, but these errors were encountered:

iltep64 · 2017-03-31T12:13:37Z

On closer inspection, nice is calling setpriority with the user-provided value of 5. Glibc is supposed to handle the translation of userland nice values to kernel nice values (e.g. 5 -> 15, -5 -> 25), according to https://linux.die.net/man/2/setpriority.

On older builds, non privileged users could execute nice -n -5 <command>, which should fail with EACCES, ~~thus the new builds actually are the correct ones in implementing the syscall behavior. However, somehow nice or glibc is not doing the conversion.~~

Testing on a linux box, strace gives

$ strace nice -n 5 nice
<snip>
getpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0)            = 20
setpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0, 5)         = 0
<snip>
$ strace nice -n -5 nice
<snip>
getpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0)            = 20
setpriority(PRIO_PROCESS, 0, -5)        = -1 EACCES (Permission denied)
<snip>

iltep64 · 2017-03-31T12:21:18Z

Problem still persists on latest libc 2.23.

pefoley2 · 2017-04-12T07:15:08Z

This also causes the python os.nice() function to return "Operation not permitted".

tnguyen14 · 2017-05-11T04:19:44Z

I see a bunch of these errors

nice: cannot set niceness: Permission denied

every time I use linuxbrew and run brew install ...

farmerbean · 2017-07-16T11:05:48Z

@tnguyen14 - Yes, same issue here (wsl16)

ChickenFur · 2017-08-11T05:27:43Z

same issue here

swun90 · 2017-10-16T05:54:06Z

I am using zsh and oh-my-zsh, and had the same issue before.
Add upsetopt BG_LINE to ~/.zshrc to fix the issue.

farmerbean · 2017-10-16T07:16:13Z

@swun90 when I source ~/.zshrc it says 'command not found' (upsetopt).

I note I already have 'unsetopt BG_NICE' on the last line, but still getting the issue.

when I add 'unsetopt BG_LINE' I get 'no such option BG_LINE'

iegik · 2018-01-26T08:27:51Z

Thanks @swun90, I`m also use oh-my-zsh. Your solution fix this annoying message,
but only with small correction:

nice(5) failed: operation not permitted

Add unsetopt BG_LINE to ~/.zshrc to fix the issue.

@farmerbean try unsetopt BG_NICE

farmerbean · 2018-01-26T10:44:09Z

Thanks @iegik - in there already, but persists.

bouvyd · 2018-03-22T17:17:27Z

Still happening on 16299 (when using the os.nice(val) python call on python 3.5+) using the basic bash.

BelfordZ · 2018-04-20T11:32:42Z

+1 to being rekd by this

phifa · 2018-08-07T12:39:17Z

same over here.

jsonMartin · 2018-08-07T17:27:59Z

Also having this issue. Adding upsetopt BG_LINE to zshrc fixed it as well for now, but looking forward to native fix.

sjackman · 2018-08-07T17:30:52Z

This issue also affects Linuxbrew. See Linuxbrew/brew#695

benhillis · 2018-08-07T18:25:49Z

Looks like we're being too strict about checking the permissions for the setpriority syscall when who = 0. I'll fix this.

benhillis · 2018-08-14T19:14:17Z

Fixed in 17738.

sjackman · 2018-08-14T19:33:44Z

Woohoo! Thanks, Ben!

WaqqasI · 2018-11-11T14:43:15Z

I still seem to be getting this issue on a updated version of wsl
It does however work with sudo, which is unusual

Does not work with WSL: https://paste.yandex-team.ru/687055 It's known issue microsoft/WSL#1838 issue:https://st.yandex-team.ru/DEVTOOLS-4896 ref:10223a059c4b3467c1dad27c9dece5cb794a1fc5

sjackman · 2019-07-17T22:04:04Z

@benhillis Some people are reporting that they're still seeing this issue. Are there particular instructions that the user needs to follow to get this fix?

benhillis · 2019-07-17T22:11:02Z

@sjackman - What Windows build are they running?

sjackman · 2019-07-17T22:13:47Z

@EshChn @LightningsFury Are you still seeing this issue with nice: cannot set niceness: permission denied? What Windows build are you running?

shewlian · 2019-08-04T03:33:12Z

Hi, folks.
I'm still seeing this issue on Windows 10, Version 1803, Build 17134.
I'll be upgrading to a Windows Insider version and check if the issue persists.

craigloewen-msft · 2019-08-07T20:16:22Z

@juliandres this issue is marked as fixed in build 17738. So make sure to upgrade to that version or higher!

shewlian · 2019-08-08T07:07:12Z

@mscraigloewen I've just upgraded to Version 1903, Build 18362. The issue seems to be gone. Thank you. :)

iltep64 changed the title ~~setpriority syscall fails with EACCES~~ nice fails with EACCES/Permission denied Mar 31, 2017

daiconrad mentioned this issue Apr 15, 2017

Error message with ZSH and use of "&" in Creators Update #1887

Closed

ruixingw mentioned this issue Apr 15, 2017

autojump_chpwd:4: nice(5) failed: operation not permitted wting/autojump#474

Open

therealkenc mentioned this issue Oct 31, 2017

Unknown Error for apt-check in WSL Ubuntu #2619

Closed

therealkenc mentioned this issue Dec 12, 2017

The behaviors of commands nice and renice are different from those of Linux #2749

Closed

sjackman mentioned this issue May 2, 2018

nice: cannot set niceness: Permission denied Linuxbrew/brew#695

Closed

6 tasks

benhillis added bug fixinbound labels Aug 7, 2018

benhillis added fixedininsiderbuilds and removed fixinbound labels Aug 14, 2018

mcornella mentioned this issue Aug 29, 2018

Fixed the _z_precmd:1: nice(5) failed: operation not permitted error rupa/z#200

Closed

Xunnamius mentioned this issue Sep 11, 2018

send_wakatime_heartbeat:3: nice(5) failed: operation not permitted wbingli/zsh-wakatime#18

Closed

therealkenc added fixedin1809 and removed bug fixedininsiderbuilds labels Oct 8, 2018

therealkenc closed this as completed Oct 8, 2018

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nice fails with EACCES/Permission denied #1838

nice fails with EACCES/Permission denied #1838

iltep64 commented Mar 31, 2017

iltep64 commented Mar 31, 2017 •

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iltep64 commented Mar 31, 2017

pefoley2 commented Apr 12, 2017

tnguyen14 commented May 11, 2017

farmerbean commented Jul 16, 2017

ChickenFur commented Aug 11, 2017

swun90 commented Oct 16, 2017

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iegik commented Jan 26, 2018 •

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BelfordZ commented Apr 20, 2018

phifa commented Aug 7, 2018

jsonMartin commented Aug 7, 2018

sjackman commented Aug 7, 2018

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benhillis commented Aug 14, 2018

sjackman commented Aug 14, 2018

WaqqasI commented Nov 11, 2018 •

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sjackman commented Jul 17, 2019

benhillis commented Jul 17, 2019

sjackman commented Jul 17, 2019

shewlian commented Aug 4, 2019

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shewlian commented Aug 8, 2019

nice fails with EACCES/Permission denied #1838

nice fails with EACCES/Permission denied #1838

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iltep64 commented Mar 31, 2017

iltep64 commented Mar 31, 2017 • edited Loading

iltep64 commented Mar 31, 2017

pefoley2 commented Apr 12, 2017

tnguyen14 commented May 11, 2017

farmerbean commented Jul 16, 2017

ChickenFur commented Aug 11, 2017

swun90 commented Oct 16, 2017

farmerbean commented Oct 16, 2017

iegik commented Jan 26, 2018 • edited Loading

farmerbean commented Jan 26, 2018

bouvyd commented Mar 22, 2018 • edited Loading

BelfordZ commented Apr 20, 2018

phifa commented Aug 7, 2018

jsonMartin commented Aug 7, 2018

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sjackman commented Aug 14, 2018

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sjackman commented Jul 17, 2019

benhillis commented Jul 17, 2019

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shewlian commented Aug 4, 2019

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