ubuntu: fah-client install error: invalid user fah-client

[foldingforumusername]

root@C.19097508:~$ dpkg -i --force-depends fah-client_8.4.9_amd64.deb
Selecting previously unselected package fah-client.
(Reading database ... 22384 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack fah-client_8.4.9_amd64.deb ...
useradd: group 'render' does not exist
Unpacking fah-client (8.4.9) ...
Setting up fah-client (8.4.9) ...
install: invalid user 'fah-client'
dpkg: error processing package fah-client (--install):
installed fah-client package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
fah-client

[muziqaz]

You forgot sudo
You can't install software on linux without elevated permissions

[foldingforumusername]

sorry, i forgot to show that i executed sudo -i before this, so the dpkg command is being run with sudo

[muziqaz]

Something is wrong with your OS. deb package, which I assume you downloaded from foldingathome.org, works fine on variety of deb based distros (Debian, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mint, Pop_OS). Tested on all of them by myself.
Ubuntu itself is the most friendly distro to FAH

And there is no need to force dependencies.
try navigating to download folder and running
sudo apt install ./fah-client_8.4.9_amd64.deb

[foldingforumusername]

same error. this used to work with client version 7.x and Ubuntu 20 and maybe 22. only differences now compared to back then are:
- client version 8.x
- Ubuntu 24
- maybe something different about how the Ubuntu image is deployed

for that 3rd/last item, i'm using vast.ai and it has been some years since i had been in there and they changed some things about templates, but it doesn't seem like any of their changes would have a negative impact on this process of installing FAH client

here's the command they execute for deploying the image to the rented machine:
vastai create instance <OFFER_ID> --image nvidia/cuda:12.8.1-cudnn-devel-ubuntu24.04 --env '-e DATA_DIRECTORY=/workspace/ -e JUPYTER_DIR=/ -e CACHE=0001' --onstart-cmd 'env >> /etc/environment;;mkdir -p ${DATA_DIRECTORY:-/workspace}' --disk 16 --ssh --direct

all i do after the machine comes up is cycle through the following commands to get it up-to-date and install FAH client:
apt-get -y install sudo
sudo -i
apt-get -y autoremove
apt-get -y clean
apt-get -y update
apt-get -y upgrade
apt-get -y dist-upgrade
apt-get -y install wget
apt-get -y install vim
apt-get -y install systemctl
wget https://download.foldingathome.org/rele ... _amd64.deb
dpkg -i --force-depends fah-client_8.4.9_amd64.deb

after that last command it used to (back for client version 7.x on Ubuntu 20/22) then prompt me for some inputs like user, team, and pass, after which i would then modify config.xml (seems unnecessary now from 8.x docs) and leverage systemctl for starting and enabling the service. however, i'm not getting past the last command now, whether as shown or the version you provided

[muziqaz]

You probably should have started with the statement that you are using vast.ai

Don't believe this is fah issue.
If you are lucky someone else who played with vast.ai pops in and can help you

[foldingforumusername]

it didn't seem pertinent for an error like "invalid user 'fah-client'". not encountering errors installing other apps

[calxalot]

The error is
useradd: group 'render' does not exist

The installer might need to be more tolerant.

[calxalot]

Does group video exist?

[foldingforumusername]

output of getent group includes: video44:ubuntu

[calxalot]

So workaround right now could be to manually create group render and retry the install.

[foldingforumusername]

and away she goes, thank you!

[calxalot]

Note that having a fake render group may cause issues with other software.

[foldingforumusername]

not seeing any immediate issues and since i just do a ~24 hour rental specifically for FAH each time (my way of donating to the causes) and then the instance gets blown away, i don't have much concern over the instance as long as it gets some folding done for my dollars. thank you for the warning tho