Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Eli Schwartz]

On 08/08/2017 12:14 PM, 张海 via aur-general wrote:
> You can probably try stuffing multiple consecutive slashes ('/') and they
> should be normalized into one. You can also play with "/./" if the program
> wasn't happy with consecutive slashes.

1) Please don't top-post.

2) I think you're trying too hard to make this solution work. And /./
doesn't solve anything since you once again end up with a solution that
only works for filenames of a certain length (multiples of 2) so you
might as well just choose a path of the right length that
*coincidentally* happens to be in theme.

-- 
Eli Schwartz



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Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[张海 via aur-general]

You can probably try stuffing multiple consecutive slashes ('/') and they
should be normalized into one. You can also play with "/./" if the program
wasn't happy with consecutive slashes.

Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general 于2017年8月8日周二
22:39写道：

> On Tue, Aug 8, 2017 at 11:13 AM, KY Chou  wrote:
> > That's a great solution!
> > But it doesn't have to be the same length actually.
> > A shorter path with padded 0x00s should also work fine.
> >
> > On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 3:16 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general
> >  wrote:
> >>
> >> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 2:35 AM, Eli Schwartz 
> >> wrote:
> >> > On 08/06/2017 08:21 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general wrote:
> >> >> Hello Arch enthusiasts,
> >> >>
> >> >> I'd like to create a package for Pulse Connect Secure, a popular VPN
> >> >> software. Current PKGBUILD can be found at [1]. That package works
> >> >> fine, but it conflicts with Arch's packaging guideline. [2]
> >> >>
> >> >> "Packages should never be installed to /usr/local"
> >> >>
> >> >> The reason I put files in /usr/local is that file paths are
> apparently
> >> >> hard-coded. Specifically, the VPN frontend (pulseUi) loads assets
> from
> >> >> /usr/local/pulse/html, and then it invokes /usr/local/pulse/pulsesvc
> >> >> to actually connects to VPN.
> >> >>
> >> >> Is there a workaround for this?
> >> >
> >> > Not much you can do with software which encodes violations of
> packaging
> >> > guidelines in its proprietary binaries. Depending on where the
> >> > information is stored, you might be able to patch it...
> >> >
> >> > /usr/local/pulse *gags*
> >> >
> >> > If software insists on being installed to
> >> > "/completely/arbitrary/directory" then you either package it anyway or
> >> > you don't. But I suppose you could try asking them to install it in
> /opt
> >> > instead.
> >> >
> >> > --
> >> > Eli Schwartz
> >> >
> >>
> >> Aha, didn't think of patching. That simple "fix" works! Many thanks!
> >> The key is that the path before and after should have the same length.
> >> [1]
> >>
> >> Best,
> >>
> >> Yen Chi Hsuan
> >>
> >> [1]
> >>
> https://github.com/yan12125/aur/commit/0588f70772fae8bd84f87e56015bdc87a6729d90#diff-62ac6814f4207a45189d3491ca4e38f3R28
> >
> >
>
> Tailing null bytes sounds absolutely interesting. But I get no luck
> for this package. There's a line in the offensive binary:
>
> file:\x0/usr/local/pulse/\x0/html/
>
> (\x0 indicates a null byte)
>
> I tried several combinations:
>
> file:\x0/opt/pulse/\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0/html/
> file:\x0/opt/pulse//html/\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0
> file:\x0/opt/pulse/\x0/html/\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0
>
> Some doesn't run, and others uses a wrong path:
>
> (pulseUi:1501): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading icon from file '/opt/pulse/':
> Image file '/opt/pulse/' contains no data
>
> or
>
> (pulseUi:9589): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading icon from file
> '/opt/pulse//html//html/images/Pulse-Secure128x128.png':
> Failed to open file
> '/opt/pulse//html//html/images/Pulse-Secure128x128.png': No such file
> or directory
>
> I think sticking to same-size patching is simpler :)
>
> Best,
>
> Yen Chi Hsuan
>
-- 
Zhang, Hai
Zhejiang University, Computer Science and Technology
Blog: http://blog.zhanghai.me/
Github: https://github.com/DreaminginCodeZH

Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general]

On Tue, Aug 8, 2017 at 11:13 AM, KY Chou  wrote:
> That's a great solution!
> But it doesn't have to be the same length actually.
> A shorter path with padded 0x00s should also work fine.
>
> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 3:16 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general
>  wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 2:35 AM, Eli Schwartz 
>> wrote:
>> > On 08/06/2017 08:21 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general wrote:
>> >> Hello Arch enthusiasts,
>> >>
>> >> I'd like to create a package for Pulse Connect Secure, a popular VPN
>> >> software. Current PKGBUILD can be found at [1]. That package works
>> >> fine, but it conflicts with Arch's packaging guideline. [2]
>> >>
>> >> "Packages should never be installed to /usr/local"
>> >>
>> >> The reason I put files in /usr/local is that file paths are apparently
>> >> hard-coded. Specifically, the VPN frontend (pulseUi) loads assets from
>> >> /usr/local/pulse/html, and then it invokes /usr/local/pulse/pulsesvc
>> >> to actually connects to VPN.
>> >>
>> >> Is there a workaround for this?
>> >
>> > Not much you can do with software which encodes violations of packaging
>> > guidelines in its proprietary binaries. Depending on where the
>> > information is stored, you might be able to patch it...
>> >
>> > /usr/local/pulse *gags*
>> >
>> > If software insists on being installed to
>> > "/completely/arbitrary/directory" then you either package it anyway or
>> > you don't. But I suppose you could try asking them to install it in /opt
>> > instead.
>> >
>> > --
>> > Eli Schwartz
>> >
>>
>> Aha, didn't think of patching. That simple "fix" works! Many thanks!
>> The key is that the path before and after should have the same length.
>> [1]
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Yen Chi Hsuan
>>
>> [1]
>> https://github.com/yan12125/aur/commit/0588f70772fae8bd84f87e56015bdc87a6729d90#diff-62ac6814f4207a45189d3491ca4e38f3R28
>
>

Tailing null bytes sounds absolutely interesting. But I get no luck
for this package. There's a line in the offensive binary:

file:\x0/usr/local/pulse/\x0/html/

(\x0 indicates a null byte)

I tried several combinations:

file:\x0/opt/pulse/\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0/html/
file:\x0/opt/pulse//html/\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0
file:\x0/opt/pulse/\x0/html/\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0\x0

Some doesn't run, and others uses a wrong path:

(pulseUi:1501): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading icon from file '/opt/pulse/':
Image file '/opt/pulse/' contains no data

or

(pulseUi:9589): Gtk-WARNING **: Error loading icon from file
'/opt/pulse//html//html/images/Pulse-Secure128x128.png':
Failed to open file
'/opt/pulse//html//html/images/Pulse-Secure128x128.png': No such file
or directory

I think sticking to same-size patching is simpler :)

Best,

Yen Chi Hsuan

Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[KY Chou via aur-general]

That's a great solution!
But it doesn't have to be the same length actually.
A shorter path with padded 0x00s should also work fine.

On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 3:16 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general <
aur-general@archlinux.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 2:35 AM, Eli Schwartz 
> wrote:
> > On 08/06/2017 08:21 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general wrote:
> >> Hello Arch enthusiasts,
> >>
> >> I'd like to create a package for Pulse Connect Secure, a popular VPN
> >> software. Current PKGBUILD can be found at [1]. That package works
> >> fine, but it conflicts with Arch's packaging guideline. [2]
> >>
> >> "Packages should never be installed to /usr/local"
> >>
> >> The reason I put files in /usr/local is that file paths are apparently
> >> hard-coded. Specifically, the VPN frontend (pulseUi) loads assets from
> >> /usr/local/pulse/html, and then it invokes /usr/local/pulse/pulsesvc
> >> to actually connects to VPN.
> >>
> >> Is there a workaround for this?
> >
> > Not much you can do with software which encodes violations of packaging
> > guidelines in its proprietary binaries. Depending on where the
> > information is stored, you might be able to patch it...
> >
> > /usr/local/pulse *gags*
> >
> > If software insists on being installed to
> > "/completely/arbitrary/directory" then you either package it anyway or
> > you don't. But I suppose you could try asking them to install it in /opt
> > instead.
> >
> > --
> > Eli Schwartz
> >
>
> Aha, didn't think of patching. That simple "fix" works! Many thanks!
> The key is that the path before and after should have the same length.
> [1]
>
> Best,
>
> Yen Chi Hsuan
>
> [1] https://github.com/yan12125/aur/commit/0588f70772fae8bd84f87e56015bdc
> 87a6729d90#diff-62ac6814f4207a45189d3491ca4e38f3R28
>

Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Eli Schwartz]

On 08/06/2017 08:31 PM, Phillip Smith via aur-general wrote:
> On 6 August 2017 at 22:21, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general <
> aur-general@archlinux.org> wrote:
> 
>>
>> Is there a workaround for this?
>>
> 
> ​It's probably not much cleaner, but perhaps install it to /opt/pulse and
> just symlink /usr/local/pulse to /opt/pulse?  At least it gets the actual
> files out of /usr/local to where they "should" be.​

In the general case, at least. But in the specific case, sed worked for
binary patching...

-- 
Eli Schwartz



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Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Phillip Smith via aur-general]

On 6 August 2017 at 22:21, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general <
aur-general@archlinux.org> wrote:

>
> Is there a workaround for this?
>

​It's probably not much cleaner, but perhaps install it to /opt/pulse and
just symlink /usr/local/pulse to /opt/pulse?  At least it gets the actual
files out of /usr/local to where they "should" be.​

Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general]

On Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 2:35 AM, Eli Schwartz  wrote:
> On 08/06/2017 08:21 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general wrote:
>> Hello Arch enthusiasts,
>>
>> I'd like to create a package for Pulse Connect Secure, a popular VPN
>> software. Current PKGBUILD can be found at [1]. That package works
>> fine, but it conflicts with Arch's packaging guideline. [2]
>>
>> "Packages should never be installed to /usr/local"
>>
>> The reason I put files in /usr/local is that file paths are apparently
>> hard-coded. Specifically, the VPN frontend (pulseUi) loads assets from
>> /usr/local/pulse/html, and then it invokes /usr/local/pulse/pulsesvc
>> to actually connects to VPN.
>>
>> Is there a workaround for this?
>
> Not much you can do with software which encodes violations of packaging
> guidelines in its proprietary binaries. Depending on where the
> information is stored, you might be able to patch it...
>
> /usr/local/pulse *gags*
>
> If software insists on being installed to
> "/completely/arbitrary/directory" then you either package it anyway or
> you don't. But I suppose you could try asking them to install it in /opt
> instead.
>
> --
> Eli Schwartz
>

Aha, didn't think of patching. That simple "fix" works! Many thanks!
The key is that the path before and after should have the same length.
[1]

Best,

Yen Chi Hsuan

[1] 
https://github.com/yan12125/aur/commit/0588f70772fae8bd84f87e56015bdc87a6729d90#diff-62ac6814f4207a45189d3491ca4e38f3R28

Re: [aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Eli Schwartz]

On 08/06/2017 08:21 AM, Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general wrote:
> Hello Arch enthusiasts,
> 
> I'd like to create a package for Pulse Connect Secure, a popular VPN
> software. Current PKGBUILD can be found at [1]. That package works
> fine, but it conflicts with Arch's packaging guideline. [2]
> 
> "Packages should never be installed to /usr/local"
> 
> The reason I put files in /usr/local is that file paths are apparently
> hard-coded. Specifically, the VPN frontend (pulseUi) loads assets from
> /usr/local/pulse/html, and then it invokes /usr/local/pulse/pulsesvc
> to actually connects to VPN.
> 
> Is there a workaround for this?

Not much you can do with software which encodes violations of packaging
guidelines in its proprietary binaries. Depending on where the
information is stored, you might be able to patch it...

/usr/local/pulse *gags*

If software insists on being installed to
"/completely/arbitrary/directory" then you either package it anyway or
you don't. But I suppose you could try asking them to install it in /opt
instead.

-- 
Eli Schwartz



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[aur-general] Package proprietary softwares with hard-coded paths within /usr/local?

[Chi-Hsuan Yen via aur-general]

Hello Arch enthusiasts,

I'd like to create a package for Pulse Connect Secure, a popular VPN
software. Current PKGBUILD can be found at [1]. That package works
fine, but it conflicts with Arch's packaging guideline. [2]

"Packages should never be installed to /usr/local"

The reason I put files in /usr/local is that file paths are apparently
hard-coded. Specifically, the VPN frontend (pulseUi) loads assets from
/usr/local/pulse/html, and then it invokes /usr/local/pulse/pulsesvc
to actually connects to VPN.

Is there a workaround for this?

Best,

Yen Chi Hsuan

[1] https://github.com/yan12125/aur/blob/master/pulse-connect-secure/PKGBUILD
[2] 
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_packaging_standards#Package_etiquette