GNS3 3.0.3 system service fails to start

[nesselzzz]

I have tried to install GNS server version 3.0.3 on Ubuntu 22.0.4. I have followed the following process:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gns3/ppa
cd /tmp
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GNS3/gns3-server/master/scripts/remote-install.sh > gns3-remote-install.sh
sudo bash gns3-remote-install.sh --custom-repository ppa-v3

Bash script runs successfully, however this is what the process shows:

sudo systemctl status gns3.service ● gns3.service - GNS3 server Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/gns3.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled) Active: activating (auto-restart) (Result: exit-code) since Sat 2025-02-15 01:32:28 UTC; 2s ago Process: 7544 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/log/gns3 /var/run/gns3 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 7545 ExecStartPre=/bin/chown -R gns3:gns3 /var/log/gns3 /var/run/gns3 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS) Process: 7546 ExecStart=/usr/bin/gns3server --log /var/log/gns3/gns3.log (code=exited, status=203/EXEC) Main PID: 7546 (code=exited, status=203/EXEC) CPU: 9ms

Below is the contents of /usr/bin/gns3server:

ls -la /usr/bin/gns3server lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 40 Jan 22 09:11 /usr/bin/gns3server -> ../share/gns3/gns3-server/bin/gns3server

When browsing the /share/gns3/gns3-server/bin/ folder there is no "gns3server" executable (see below)
ls -la /usr/share/gns3/gns3-server/bin/
total 68
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 15 01:03 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Feb 15 01:03 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2146 Jan 22 09:11 activate
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1438 Jan 22 09:11 activate.csh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3023 Jan 22 09:11 activate.fish
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1429 Jan 22 09:11 activate.nu
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1754 Jan 22 09:11 activate.ps1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1200 Jan 22 09:11 activate_this.py
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 235 Jan 22 09:11 alembic
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 228 Jan 22 09:11 cpuinfo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 333 Jan 22 09:11 deactivate.nu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 234 Jan 22 09:11 distro
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 245 Jan 22 09:11 email_validator
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 232 Jan 22 09:11 fastapi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 235 Jan 22 09:11 mako-render
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Jan 22 09:11 python -> ../../../../bin/python3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 22 09:11 python3 -> python
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 22 09:11 python3.10 -> python
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 233 Jan 22 09:11 uvicorn
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 239 Jan 22 09:11 watchmedo

Any assistance would be appreciated. Thank you!

[grossmj]

You should not use the gns3/ppa repository since you already have -custom-repository ppa-v3 for gns3-remote-install.sh

The gns3/ppa is only to install version 2.2.x

Remove it and purge the current gns3-server installation.

sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:gns3/ppa
sudo apt purge gns3-server

then install using the gns3-remote-install.sh script:

cd /tmp
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/GNS3/gns3-server/master/scripts/remote-install.sh > gns3-remote-install.sh
sudo bash gns3-remote-install.sh --custom-repository ppa-v3

[nesselzzz]

Thank you very much for your response, Jeremy (especially on a Friday night).

I tried doing what you've proposed but still the system service fails. After further investigation, it looks like the gns3server and gns3vmnet executables end up in my user's home directory as opposed to the "/usr/share/gns3/gns3-server/bin/"

See below:

ls -la of home directory:
total 56
drwxrwxr-x 2 admin admin 4096 Feb 15 00:33 .
drwxrwxr-x 6 admin admin 4096 Feb 15 00:33 ..
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 213 Feb 15 00:33 alembic
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 206 Feb 15 00:33 cpuinfo
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 212 Feb 15 00:32 distro
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 223 Feb 15 00:33 email_validator
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 210 Feb 15 00:33 fastapi
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 208 Feb 15 00:32 gns3
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 214 Feb 15 00:33 gns3server
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 221 Feb 15 00:33 gns3vmnet
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 213 Feb 15 00:32 jsonschema
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 213 Feb 15 00:33 mako-render
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 211 Feb 15 00:33 uvicorn
-rwxrwxr-x 1 admin admin 217 Feb 15 00:33 watchmedo

ls -la of /usr/share/gns3/gns3-server/bin:
total 68
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Feb 15 03:17 .
drwxr-xr-x 5 root root 4096 Feb 15 03:17 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 2146 Jan 22 09:11 activate
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1438 Jan 22 09:11 activate.csh
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3023 Jan 22 09:11 activate.fish
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1429 Jan 22 09:11 activate.nu
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1754 Jan 22 09:11 activate.ps1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1200 Jan 22 09:11 activate_this.py
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 235 Jan 22 09:11 alembic
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 228 Jan 22 09:11 cpuinfo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 333 Jan 22 09:11 deactivate.nu
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 234 Jan 22 09:11 distro
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 245 Jan 22 09:11 email_validator
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 232 Jan 22 09:11 fastapi
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 235 Jan 22 09:11 mako-render
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 23 Jan 22 09:11 python -> ../../../../bin/python3
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 22 09:11 python3 -> python
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 6 Jan 22 09:11 python3.10 -> python
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 233 Jan 22 09:11 uvicorn
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 239 Jan 22 09:11 watchmedo

It seems like I'm missing something very simple. When I execute the "gns3server", it works perfectly, but my projects, images, etc are coming all out of my home directory, except /opt/gns3.