Bug#1067932: usrmerge is dangerous : lost bash and other commands

[Denis Migdal]

>This is why the conversion procedure stopped.

And it blocked my upgrade although I never asked (nor felt the need) to 
merge /usr/bin and /bin.


> Then you started thinkering with your system to "fix" it and did worse.

Indeed, I did. I was left without any instructions, a little tired and 
hurry, and I fucked up.



> This does not happen frequently enough (only you reported this) to 
justify investing development resources.


I can understand this argument. Though I do not think changing the error 
message would require much development resources.


I also think that protecting users for their own security is always 
good. If we want Linux to be more adopted in the general public, this 
kind of issues is an hindrance. Novice users are more likely to fuck up, 
while being the ones that are the less likely to report such issues (and 
to think of doing it/to know how to do it).


For me it's too late. But if it can help others, it'd be a good think.


Le 29/03/2024 à 19:22, Marco d'Itri a écrit :

On Mar 29, Denis Migdal  wrote:


Maybe I was better off reinstalling, indeed, but I prefer to properly
plan/prepare for it.

This is why the conversion procedure stopped.
Then you started thinkering with your system to "fix" it and did worse.


It'd help me if, at least, usrmerge printed the number of duplicates and sym
links. Maybe with a more explicit error message, indicating what to do, "we
strongly advise to reinstall your system", "remove duplicates, but be
careful of symlinks", or whatever.

This does not happen frequently enough (only you reported this) to
justify investing development resources.


--
 	Denis MIGDAL  - Maître de 
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, département STID 
/
Recherche: /Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Modélisation et 
d'Optimisation des Systèmes (LIMOS)/ 

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Bug#1067932: usrmerge is dangerous : lost bash and other commands

[Marco d'Itri]

On Mar 29, Denis Migdal  wrote:

> Maybe I was better off reinstalling, indeed, but I prefer to properly
> plan/prepare for it.
This is why the conversion procedure stopped.
Then you started thinkering with your system to "fix" it and did worse.

> It'd help me if, at least, usrmerge printed the number of duplicates and sym
> links. Maybe with a more explicit error message, indicating what to do, "we
> strongly advise to reinstall your system", "remove duplicates, but be
> careful of symlinks", or whatever.
This does not happen frequently enough (only you reported this) to 
justify investing development resources.

-- 
ciao,
Marco


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Bug#1067932: usrmerge is dangerous : lost bash and other commands

[Denis Migdal]

Package: usrmerge

Version : ?


When updating one of my old laptop, apt failed due to usrmerge detecting 
duplicates between /bin and /usr/bin. usrmerge forced me to solve theses 
duplicates by hand, which is a quite dangerous thing to ask to an user...


I tried to solve it by hand one by one, but when I noticed there were 
hundred of duplicates, I tried to automate it a little... and of course 
it was bound to happen, I didn't noticed that among the duplicates there 
were symbolic links... and I lost bash and other commands...



usrmerge shouldn't encourage such dangerous behavior, and should protect 
a little more the users that can always do mistakes, and will always do 
mistakes (sometimes we are tired, hurried, etc). /usr/bin and /bin 
directories are quite sensitive and should be treated with great care.



I think usrmerge should have done the following :

- print the number of duplicates ;

- print the number of symbolic links ;

- offer several merging methods :

    - keep /bin ;

    - keep /usr/bin ;

    - keep the most recent ;

    - keep /bin or /usr/bin depending on their order in the $PATH ;

    - personalized : ask a y/n question for each duplicates.


Cordially,

--
 	Denis MIGDAL  - Maître de 
conférences
Enseignement: /IUT d'Aurillac 
, département STID 
/
Recherche: /Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Modélisation et 
d'Optimisation des Systèmes (LIMOS)/ 

/https://migdal.ovh/ 
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 Twitter UCA 
 Instagram UCA 


100 rue de l'Egalité - 15013 Aurillac
www.uca.fr 
Mail:denis.mig...@uca.fr+33 (0)4 00 00 00 00