Meson and code disconnect regarding libexec directory location #6588
Description
Bug report
meson.build defines:
lib_exec_dir = get_option('prefix') / get_option('libexecdir') / 'cloud-init'
and then uses lib_exec_dir as the location to install these scripts/programs:
tools/cloud-init-hotplugd
tools/ds-identify
tools/hook-hotplug
tools/uncloud-init
tools/write-ssh-key-fingerprints
Some distro files (azurelinux.py, freebsd.py, and rhel.py) define usr_lib_exec explicitly and distros/init.py provides a fallback definition of "/usr/lib". cloudinit/config/cc_keys_to_console.py uses the value of distro.usr_lib_exec to find a helper program write-ssh-key-fingerprints, with a hardcoded fallback location of "/usr/lib".
cloudinit/config_cc_install_hotplug.py is hardcoded to check both /usr/libexec/cloud-init and /usr/lib/cloud-init to determine where to find hook-hotplug (and likewise tests/unittests/config/test_cc_install_hotplug.py uses both).
The value used by Meson should also be the same value used at runtime to access these programs/scripts.
packages/suse/cloud-init.spec.in, packages/debian/rules, and packages/redhat/cloud-init.spec have references to libexecdir.
Finally systemd/cloud-init-generator.tmpl, sysvinit/openrc/cloud-init-hotplug and sysvinit/openrc/cloud-init-ds-identify all have hardcoded paths for /usr/libexec/cloud-init
Steps to reproduce the problem
Boot an Alpine cloud image (e.g. using NoCloud DataSource). During boot the cloud-init-final service outputs an error to the console:
2025-11-06 01:20:55,029 - cc_keys_to_console.py[WARNING]: Unable to activate module keys_to_console, helper tool not found at /usr/lib/cloud-init/write-ssh-key-fingerprints
Environment details
- Cloud-init version: Main
- Operating System Distribution: Alpine
- Cloud provider, platform or installer type: any/all