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Type:
Problem report
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Resolution: Unresolved
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Priority:
Major
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Affects Version/s: 7.0.28, 7.4.13
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Component/s: Installation (I)
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None
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Sprint candidates
Environment
- OS: AIX 7.3.4 (oslevel -s: 7300-04-00-2546)
- RPM version: 4.20.1
- Package: zabbix-agent-7.0.26-1.aix7.3.ppc.rpm (IBM AIX Toolbox build, built May 28, 2026)
Issue
Running the install command fails with:
$ rpm -Uvh zabbix-agent-7.0.26-1.aix7.3.ppc.rpm
error: Failed dependencies:
group(zabbix) is needed by zabbix-agent-7.0.26-1.ppc
user(zabbix) is needed by zabbix-agent-7.0.26-1.ppc
However, the "zabbix" user and group already exist on the target system:
$ grep '^zabbix:' /etc/passwd zabbix:!:214:208::/home/zabbix:/usr/bin/ksh $ grep '^zabbix:' /etc/group zabbix:!:208: $ lsuser zabbix zabbix id=214 pgrp=zabbix groups=zabbix home=/home/zabbix ... $ lsgroup zabbix zabbix id=208 admin=false users=zabbix registry=files
Checking which package is expected to satisfy these virtual dependencies returns nothing:
$ rpm -q --whatprovides 'user(zabbix)' no package provides user(zabbix) $ rpm -q --whatprovides 'group(zabbix)' no package provides group(zabbix)
Package's preinstall scriptlet, already contains logic to create the user/group itself if they are missing:
preinstall scriptlet (using /bin/sh):
/usr/sbin/lsgroup zabbix > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
/usr/bin/mkgroup zabbix
fi
/usr/sbin/lsuser zabbix > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
/usr/bin/mkuser pgrp=zabbix home=/home/zabbix shell=/bin/sh daemon=true admin=false login=false rlogin=false su=false zabbix
fi
Since the scriptlet already handles user/group creation, it is unclear why the package also declares user(zabbix) and group(zabbix) as hard RPM dependencies — on AIX, RPM apparently has no built-in mechanism (unlike Linux's user()/group() dependency generators) to recognize that these already exist on the system, so the install fails even though the prerequisite is actually satisfied.