Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[John Belmonte]

Daniel Silverstone wrote:
> Some are aware and do:
> 
> #include  and have -I/usr/include/lua50

If software using Lua's C API wants to be portable, it should use the
 form and get the include path from pkg-config.  That should be
the end of it.  Should someone want to use such software on a tiny
system without pkg-config, they can make the one line change to the
makefile.  Hacks such as the symlink only encourage further
obliviousness to best practice.

--John


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Daniel Silverstone]

On Sun, 2006-04-09 at 18:23 -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> > There is exactly one header file, and IMO packages should care enough
> > about their dependencies to not do silly things to get a single file
> > included.
> It smells like a transitional measure, but I don't know for sure.  I see
> that it was intentional:

It was indeed intentional

> I do generally agree that it's not the best idea if there are other
> solutions to the same problem, but I can see why one might arrive at this
> solution.

And the exact reasoning is thus...

Some programs are written aware of the lua50 and lua40 dirs used in
Debian and other distros. They do:

#include 

Some are aware and do:

#include  and have -I/usr/include/lua50

Some are aware and do:

#include  and have -I/usr/include/lua50

Some are unaware and do either of the second without the -I -- at that
point it's up to the packager to fix up the build either by adding a -I
or by fixing the #include statements to be more correct.

There is a wealth of software out there which uses Lua, and not all of
it is suited to a packaged version of Lua and those which are are not
always suited to the idea that there might be differing versions on the
filesystem at the same time.

This is a compatibility measure in an attempt to increase the amount of
software which can build with as little intervention as possible from
the packager.

Also, it's not just one include file. It's just that others are in
liblualib50-dev I imagine.

Regards,

Daniel

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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Justin Pryzby]

On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 06:23:00PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 05:54:03PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> 
> >> Does grep -r follow symlinks?  That sounds kind of dangerous.
> 
> > It does, I just checked.  I'm not sure why it's dangerous, xargs in
> > /tmp/ is dumb, and anywhere else you control and should be safe..
> 
> Well, because of exactly this.  Symlinks that create circular directory
> structures are extremely common.  Not dangerous in the security
> vulnerability sense, dangerous in the "this may not do what you expect and
> be very slow and annoying while not doing it" sense.
> 
> > There is exactly one header file, and IMO packages should care enough
> > about their dependencies to not do silly things to get a single file
> > included.
> 
> It smells like a transitional measure, but I don't know for sure.  I see
> that it was intentional:
> 
>  lua50  (5.0.2-3) unstable; urgency=low
> 
>* Fold in a patch from Reuben Thomas, integrating the signal and error
>  code from Fedora Core. Thanks Reuben.
>* Lintian cleanups (recursive symlink stays, sorry)
> 
>  -- Daniel Silverstone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  Thu, 3 Jun 2004 14:35:00 -0300 
Damn, I looked for this and bet I saw it too, but ignored it because
it m/^Lintian/..

I can see that it wont go away easily, since there are ~50 depending
packages, any of which might be including strangely named files..


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Russ Allbery]

Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 05:54:03PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:

>> Does grep -r follow symlinks?  That sounds kind of dangerous.

> It does, I just checked.  I'm not sure why it's dangerous, xargs in
> /tmp/ is dumb, and anywhere else you control and should be safe..

Well, because of exactly this.  Symlinks that create circular directory
structures are extremely common.  Not dangerous in the security
vulnerability sense, dangerous in the "this may not do what you expect and
be very slow and annoying while not doing it" sense.

> There is exactly one header file, and IMO packages should care enough
> about their dependencies to not do silly things to get a single file
> included.

It smells like a transitional measure, but I don't know for sure.  I see
that it was intentional:

 lua50  (5.0.2-3) unstable; urgency=low

   * Fold in a patch from Reuben Thomas, integrating the signal and error
 code from Fedora Core. Thanks Reuben.
   * Lintian cleanups (recursive symlink stays, sorry)

 -- Daniel Silverstone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>  Thu, 3 Jun 2004 14:35:00 -0300 

I do generally agree that it's not the best idea if there are other
solutions to the same problem, but I can see why one might arrive at this
solution.

-- 
Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED])   


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Justin Pryzby]

On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 05:54:03PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> > On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 04:30:06PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> >> Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> >>> Package: liblua50-dev
> >>> Version: 5.0.2-6
> >>> Severity: normal
> 
> >>> $ dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archives/liblua50-dev_5.0.2-6_i386.deb  |grep -- 
> >>> '->'
> >>> lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/lib/liblua50.so 
> >>> -> liblua50.so.5.0
> >>> lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 
> >>> ./usr/include/lua50/lua -> .
> 
> >> Why is this a bug?  I'm missing something, I think.
> 
> > Is it deliberate?!  Why would one need such a symlink?  It bothered me
> > because my grep -r /usr/include/ gave me a recusion warning..
> 
> Does grep -r follow symlinks?  That sounds kind of dangerous.
It does, I just checked.  I'm not sure why it's dangerous, xargs in
/tmp/ is dumb, and anywhere else you control and should be safe..

> I haven't ever used or uploaded the package, so I'm not sure, but my guess
> is that it's so that software built with -I/usr/include/lua50 that
> includes files like #include  will find the header files.
> 
> There are other ways to accomplish the same thing, but I would have been
> tempted to do that myself, if that is indeed the problem being solved.
There is exactly one header file, and IMO packages should care enough
about their dependencies to not do silly things to get a single file
included.

It is in the .diff.gz, so apparently provided upstream.

+   (cd debian/liblua50-dev/usr/include/lua50; \
+   ln -s . lua )

Daniel, can you comment on it?

Justin


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Russ Allbery]

Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 04:30:06PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
>> Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

>>> Package: liblua50-dev
>>> Version: 5.0.2-6
>>> Severity: normal

>>> $ dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archives/liblua50-dev_5.0.2-6_i386.deb  |grep -- 
>>> '->'
>>> lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/lib/liblua50.so -> 
>>> liblua50.so.5.0
>>> lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/include/lua50/lua 
>>> -> .

>> Why is this a bug?  I'm missing something, I think.

> Is it deliberate?!  Why would one need such a symlink?  It bothered me
> because my grep -r /usr/include/ gave me a recusion warning..

Does grep -r follow symlinks?  That sounds kind of dangerous.

I haven't ever used or uploaded the package, so I'm not sure, but my guess
is that it's so that software built with -I/usr/include/lua50 that
includes files like #include  will find the header files.

There are other ways to accomplish the same thing, but I would have been
tempted to do that myself, if that is indeed the problem being solved.

-- 
Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED])   


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Justin Pryzby]

On Sun, Apr 09, 2006 at 04:30:06PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
> Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> 
> > Package: liblua50-dev
> > Version: 5.0.2-6
> > Severity: normal
> 
> > $ dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archives/liblua50-dev_5.0.2-6_i386.deb  |grep -- 
> > '->'
> > lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/lib/liblua50.so -> 
> > liblua50.so.5.0
> > lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/include/lua50/lua 
> > -> .
> 
> Why is this a bug?  I'm missing something, I think.
Is it deliberate?!  Why would one need such a symlink?  It bothered me
because my grep -r /usr/include/ gave me a recusion warning..


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Russ Allbery]

Justin Pryzby <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:

> Package: liblua50-dev
> Version: 5.0.2-6
> Severity: normal

> $ dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archives/liblua50-dev_5.0.2-6_i386.deb  |grep -- '->'
> lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/lib/liblua50.so -> 
> liblua50.so.5.0
> lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/include/lua50/lua -> 
> .

Why is this a bug?  I'm missing something, I think.

-- 
Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED])   


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Bug#361740: liblua50-dev: symlink pointing to .

[Justin Pryzby]

Package: liblua50-dev
Version: 5.0.2-6
Severity: normal

$ dpkg -c /var/cache/apt/archives/liblua50-dev_5.0.2-6_i386.deb  |grep -- '->'
lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/lib/liblua50.so -> 
liblua50.so.5.0
lrwxrwxrwx root/root 0 2006-04-09 10:03:01 ./usr/include/lua50/lua -> .


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