Hi. Thanks for replying. I just ran some tests, and I don't think sudo is the problem. And to be clear, this isn't a "dist-upgrade". This machine is running sid, and an "apt upgrade" triggered this issue.
The current state is that the machine is up-to-date with the exception of systemd. Upgrading systemd causes the issue being reported, so I downgrade it back to keep the box usable. Latest sequence: 1. I logged in as root WITHOUT sudo, as suggested, and I upgraded the systemd packages: dima@snarky:~$ su Password: root@snarky:/home/dima# sudo aptitude install systemd The following NEW packages will be installed: systemd-timesyncd{a} The following packages will be upgraded: libsystemd0 systemd 2 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 515 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/4817 kB of archives. After unpacking 2802 kB will be used. The following packages have unmet dependencies: libpam-systemd : Depends: systemd (= 239-15) but 246.4-1 is to be installed libnss-systemd : Depends: systemd (= 239-15) but 246.4-1 is to be installed The following actions will resolve these dependencies: Upgrade the following packages: 1) libnss-systemd [239-15 (now) -> 246.4-1 (unstable)] 2) libpam-systemd [239-15 (now) -> 246.4-1 (unstable)] Accept this solution? [Y/n/q/?] The following NEW packages will be installed: systemd-timesyncd{a} The following packages will be upgraded: libnss-systemd libpam-systemd libsystemd0 systemd 4 packages upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 513 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B/5285 kB of archives. After unpacking 2957 kB will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] y Reading changelogs... Done debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog debconf: (Dialog frontend will not work on a dumb terminal, an emacs shell buffer, or without a controlling terminal.) debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline (Reading database ... 208114 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../libnss-systemd_246.4-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libnss-systemd:amd64 (246.4-1) over (239-15) ... Preparing to unpack .../libpam-systemd_246.4-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libpam-systemd:amd64 (246.4-1) over (239-15) ... Preparing to unpack .../systemd_246.4-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking systemd (246.4-1) over (239-15) ... Preparing to unpack .../systemd-timesyncd_246.4-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking systemd-timesyncd (246.4-1) ... Preparing to unpack .../libsystemd0_246.4-1_amd64.deb ... Unpacking libsystemd0:amd64 (246.4-1) over (239-15) ... Setting up libsystemd0:amd64 (246.4-1) ... Setting up systemd (246.4-1) ... Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/journald.conf ... Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/resolved.conf ... Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/system.conf ... Installing new version of config file /etc/systemd/user.conf ... Failed to enable unit: Access denied Failed to reload daemon: Access denied Failed to stop systemd-networkd.socket: Access denied See system logs and 'systemctl status systemd-networkd.socket' for details. Failed to try-restart systemd-networkd.service: Access denied See system logs and 'systemctl status systemd-networkd.service' for details. Failed to try-restart systemd-resolved.service: Access denied See system logs and 'systemctl status systemd-resolved.service' for details. Failed to try-restart systemd-journald.service: Access denied See system logs and 'systemctl status systemd-journald.service' for details. Setting up systemd-timesyncd (246.4-1) ... Failed to reload daemon: Access denied Failed to preset unit: Access denied /usr/bin/deb-systemd-helper: error: systemctl preset failed on systemd-timesyncd.service: No such file or directory Failed to reload daemon: Access denied Failed to get unit file state for systemd-timesyncd.service: Access denied Failed to retrieve unit state: Access denied systemd-timesyncd.service is a disabled or a static unit not running, not starting it. Setting up libpam-systemd:amd64 (246.4-1) ... debconf: unable to initialize frontend: Dialog debconf: (Dialog frontend will not work on a dumb terminal, an emacs shell buffer, or without a controlling terminal.) debconf: falling back to frontend: Readline Setting up libnss-systemd:amd64 (246.4-1) ... Processing triggers for man-db (2.9.3-2) ... Processing triggers for dbus (1.12.20-1) ... Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.31-1) ... [master 8c809f6] committing changes in /etc made by "aptitude install systemd" 5 files changed, 21 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-) delete mode 120000 systemd/system/systemd-timesyncd.service Current status: 513 (-4) upgradable. You can see the errors in the upgrade. I can confirm that at this point I can't talk to systemd: 2. root@snarky:/etc# systemctl status Failed to read server status: Access denied To make my machine happy again, I downgrade: 3. root@snarky:/home/dima# dpkg -i /var/cache/apt/archives/*_239-15*.deb ... barfs about systemd-timesyncd dependency root@snarky:/home/dima# sudo apt remove systemd-timesyncd Any suggestions appreciated.