iipsrv.service Will Not Start On Debian 11 (Bullseye)

[Anonymous]

Hello,

We, by executing 'apt-get install iipimage-server' while logged in as 'root', installed the Debian bullseye package (https://packages.debian.org/bullseye/iipimage-server), however the iipsrv service does not start, and 'systemctl status iipsrv.service' and 'journalctl -xe' tell us the following:

systemd[1]: iipsrv.service: Failed to load environment files: No such file or directory
systemd[1]: iipsrv.service: Failed to run 'start' task: No such file or directory
systemd[1]: iipsrv.service: Failed with result 'resources'.
systemd[1]: Failed to start IIPImage server.

We are running Apache 2.4.53 webserver, and libapache2-mod-fcgid (1:2.3.9-4 Debian:11.5/stable [amd64]) is also installed when 'apt-get install iipimage-server' is executed. The file /etc/apache2/mods-available/iipsrv.conf was also successfully created during the installation.

Is there, perhaps, something else that we need to do in addition to executing 'apt-get install iipimage-server' while logged in as 'root', such as changing file and/or directory permissions or ownership somewhere?

[Ruven]

Does the file /etc/default/iipsrv exist? If not, you need to create it and put the parameters you want to give to iipsrv. For example:

VERBOSITY=5
LOGFILE=/var/log/iipsrv.log
MAX_CVT=5000
URI_MAP="iiif=>IIIF"

Then try to restart the iipsrv.service script

[Anonymous]

Hello, Ruven,

No, the file /etc/default/iipsrv was not created automatically during the Debian package installation. So, we manually created the file /etc/default/iipsrv, with the four configuration options that you specified, and that seems to have fixed the problem; iipsrv.service now starts properly. Thanks!

A couple of quick questions, for future reference:

• We also have the IIPImage server installed, successfully, on a Debian 9 (stretch) server, and that server does not have a file /etc/default/iipsrv. Was the requirement for a file /etc/default/iipsrv introduced sometime between the availability of the Debian 9 package and the availability of the Debian 11 package?

• If a configuration option (for example, "MAX_CVT") has its value specified in both /etc/default/iipsrv and /etc/apache2/mods-available/iipsrv.conf, which of the two values, the value in /etc/default/iipsrv or the value in /etc/apache2/mods-available/iipsrv.conf, will the server use?

Thanks again!

[Ruven]

The Debian package in fact supports 2 different ways to start iipsrv and you should one or the other.

The first way is by having Apache (or Lighttpd) start and manage iipsrv automatically for you. In this case, the file /etc/apache2/mods-available/iipsrv.conf will be used.

The 2nd way is via systemd. In this case, the configuration options are provided through /etc/default/iipsrv and you can start and manage the process independently of any web server by using the systemctl command. Systemd support was indeed introduced between Debian 9 and 11. Though, it would definitely be better if the file /etc/default/iipsrv was installed by default.