Bug#1721: system.fvwmrc references /usr/X386
Package: fvwm Version: 1.24r-7 The path statements in /etc/X11/fvwm/system.fvwmrc reference /usr/X386/*. They should use /usr/X11R6/*. David -- David EngelOptical Data Systems, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] 1101 E. Arapaho Road (214) 234-6400 Richardson, TX 75081
Bug#1720: adduser: races, and chmod/chown - patch provided
Package: adduser
Version: 1.94-1
Three different bugs fixed here:
(1) There were a few race conditions in locking the password and
group files. A badly timed ^C could result in the lockfile
not being cleared.
(2) chown()/chmod() persistantly used in the wrong order throughout.
Could people please take note: chown()ing a file removes the
setuid and setgid bits on it! It's no use chmod()ing a file to
be setgid, then chown()ing it to someone else.
(3) The copy_to_file() routine doesn't preserve permissions. This
means that giving user's a default .xsession (which must be rwx)
isn't possible. I've modified copy_to_file() to now copy the
permissions with the file - but the files are chown()ed later, so
the setuid/setgid bit will be lost. (This is probably the right
thing to happen, in this instance).
As always, patch included...
Austin
--- /usr/sbin/adduser Thu Oct 5 20:02:18 1995
+++ adduser Sat Oct 21 02:24:19 1995
@@ -328,8 +328,8 @@
exit 1;
}
# lock the password file
-link $PASSWD, $PLOCK;
$passwd_state = "locked";
+link $PASSWD, $PLOCK;
}
##
## check if the group file is locked, if necessary:
@@ -344,8 +344,8 @@
exit 1;
}
# lock the group file
-link $GROUP, $GLOCK;
$group_state = "locked";
+link $GROUP, $GLOCK;
}
@@ -508,11 +508,11 @@
}
if ($make_group_also) {
- chmod (02775, $home_dir);
chown ($new_uid, $new_gid, $home_dir);
+ chmod (02775, $home_dir);
} else {
- chmod (0755, $home_dir);
chown ($new_uid, 0, $home_dir);
+ chmod (0755, $home_dir);
}
&clean_up();
@@ -651,6 +651,7 @@
}
mkdir ($home_dir, $dir_mode);
chown ($new_uid, $new_gid, $home_dir);
+ chmod ($home_dir, $dir_mode); # since chown() resets set{gu}id bit
print "done.\n" if ($verbose);
##
@@ -857,12 +858,20 @@
##
sub copy_to_dir {
local ($file, $dir) = @_;
+local ($dev, $ino, $mode, $nlink, $uid, $gid, $rdev, $size,
+ $atime, $mtime, $ctime, $blksize, $blocks);
if ((! -f $file) || (! -d $dir)) {
return -1;
}
open (FILE, $file) || die "open: $!";
+
+# grab access permissions for later
+($dev,$ino,$mode,$nlink,$uid,$gid,$rdev,$size,
+ $atime,$mtime,$ctime,$blksize,$blocks)
+ = stat($file);
+
$file =~ s+.*/++; # get the basename
open (NEWFILE, ">$dir/$file") || die "open: $!";
@@ -872,6 +881,10 @@
close FILE;
close NEWFILE;
+
+# now copy permissions saved earlier. Note setuid/setgid bit destroyed
+# by a later chown call - maybe thats a good thing!
+chmod($mode, "$dir/$file");
return 1;
}
Re: Bug#1712: Tex has no version number texbin does
Erick Branderhorst writes ("Bug#1712: Tex has no version number texbin does"):
> [...]
>
> It might be usefull to let the provides packages have the same version
> number as the providing package, or if a specific version number is
> given in the provides line providing that version number.
The only sensible thing, I think, would be to have providing packages
have to specify a version number in their Provides.
I deliberately didn't do this, because I didn't think it would be
useful.
I originally intended virtual packages to work as Bill suggests:
Bill Mitchell writes ("Virtual Packages and version numbering"):
> Virtual packages were originally proposed, as I recall, to provide
> a means for alternative packages which conflict with one another
> but seek to provide the same facility to declare that they each
> provide that facility so that other packages could declare
> dependency on the facility rather than on the packages. [...]
(And other similar situations, yes.)
In this case, as Bill notes, there is no need for version numbering.
> [...]
> In practice, virtual packages seem to be actually being used to
> provide one or more aliases for one single installing package
> providing a facility which is not also provided by a conflicting
> package. Eric's suggestion would seem to be useful in this use of
> virtual packages.
The reason why packages need aliases (apart from the one in your first
paragraph above) is either because the concrete package names are part
of the internal structure, which may be rearranged by the package
maintainer at some point, or because the package names have changed
and the old names have to be supported for the benefit of older
packages.
In the case of `hiding' of internal structure, programs that need a
specific version of the actual packages in question are sufficiently
closely linked that they can use the concrete package name.
In the case of rearrangement, there is no sense in using version
numbers.
I'm working from the premise that only closely-related packages need
to know about each others' version numbers. This seems to me to be
fairly accurate.
It's true that I could add this feature to dpkg, but the
conflict/dependency semantics are quite complicated enough already.
Adding new complexity here without a good reason seems to me to be
inviting trouble, both in terms of implementation bugs in dpkg and
dselect (there is a lot of quite hairy code involved here) and in
terms of problems caused by package maintainers misunderstanding
things.
We need a manual that documents things so that package maintainers
don't report things like this as bugs. I'm closing this one.
Ian.
Bug#1718: gopherd version has spurious quotes
Package: gopherd Version: 2.1.1-2 The `gopherd' package says: version: "2.1.1" revision: "2" The quotes should be removed ASAP, as they will cause this version number sort before any sane version number and so be likely to cause problems for people trying to upgrade. Ian.
Bug#1684: fvwm creates /tmp/fvwmrcXXXX - fixed: patch included
I've had a look at this bug: its some pretty dire code in the section
the reads your .fvwmrc.
I submit the following patch to fix the problem.
Austin
--- configure.c.old Fri Oct 20 16:48:44 1995
+++ configure.c Fri Oct 20 21:36:12 1995
@@ -1979,12 +1979,10 @@
/* Generate a temporary filename. Honor the TMPDIR environment variable,
if set. Hope nobody deletes this file! */
-if ((vc=getenv("TMPDIR"))) {
- strcpy(tmp_name, vc);
-} else {
- strcpy(tmp_name, "/tmp");
+if ((vc=getenv("TMPDIR")) == NULL) {
+ vc = "/tmp";
}
-strcat(tmp_name, "/fvwmrcX");
+sprintf(tmp_name, "%s/fvwmrc.%05d", vc, getpid());
mktemp(tmp_name);
if (*tmp_name == '\0')
Bug#1719: hyperlatex recommends ghostscript - nonexistent package
Package: hyperlatex Version: 1.3-4 The `hyperlatex' package says: recommends: latex, ghostscript, giftrans, pbmplus However, there is no package `ghostscript', nor does any package Provide `ghostscript'. (Packages-Master of the 21st of October, 00:49GMT.) This means that when you select hyperlatex in dselect you get a conflict/dependency resolution screen which is supposed to warn you about this potential problem (remember that a Recommends line is quite a strong recommendation). (Currently - dpkg 1.0.5 - the conflict/dependency resolution screen is less informative than it might be; I intend to improve this, but the problem will not go away until the bad recommendation is fixed.) Ian.
Bug#1717: gopherd recommends freeWAIS - nonexistent package
Package: gopherd Version: 2.1.1-2 The `gopherd' package says: recommends: freeWAIS However, there is no package `freeWAIS', nor does any package Provide `freeWAIS'. (Packages-Master of the 21st of October, 00:49GMT.) This means that when you select gopherd in dselect you get a conflict/dependency resolution screen which is supposed to warn you about this potential problem (remember that a Recommends line is quite a strong recommendation). (Currently - dpkg 1.0.5 - the conflict/dependency resolution screen is less informative than it might be; I intend to improve this, but the problem will not go away until the bad recommendation is fixed.) Ian.
Bug#1716: dvipsk recommends psfonts - nonexistent package
Package: dvipsk Version: 5.58f-3 The `dvipsk' package says: recommends: psfonts However, there is no package `psfonts', nor does any package Provide `psfonts'. (Packages-Master of the 21st of October, 00:49GMT.) This means that when you select dvipsk in dselect you get a conflict/dependency resolution screen which is supposed to warn you about this potential problem (remember that a Recommends line is quite a strong recommendation). (Currently - dpkg 1.0.5 - the conflict/dependency resolution screen is less informative than it might be; I intend to improve this, but the problem will not go away until the bad recommendation is fixed.) Ian.
Bug#1715: ispell recommends word-list - nonexistent package
Package: ispell Version: 3.1.18-2 The `ispell' package says: recommends: ispell-dictionary, word-list However, there is no package `word-list', nor does any package Provide `word-list'. (Packages-Master of the 21st of October, 00:49GMT.) This means that when you select ispell in dselect you get a conflict/dependency resolution screen which is supposed to warn you about this potential problem (remember that a Recommends line is quite a strong recommendation). (Currently - dpkg 1.0.5 - the conflict/dependency resolution screen is less informative than it might be; I intend to improve this, but the problem will not go away until the bad recommendation is fixed.) Ian.
Re: Package Giveaway, Take Two
On Fri, 20 Oct 1995, Bernd S. Brentrup wrote: > (ii) Distributing the Program on a CD-ROM, provided that the files > containing the Program are reproduced entirely and verbatim on such > CD-ROM, and provided further that all information on such CD-ROM be > redistributable for non-commercial purposes without charge. The problem, at the moment, is that debian source packages are _not_ verbatim copies of the original distribution files. Mike. -- "I'm a dinosaur. Somebody's digging my bones."
Re: Package Giveaway, Take Two
Ted Hajek writes: >On Mon, 16 Oct 1995, I wrote: > >I have found volunteers to maintain adduser and ncftp. Are there any >takers for ghostscript, gsfonts or svgalib? Provided an upgrade to ghostscript 3.33 is acceptable for Debian, I will take ghostscript and gsfonts. In my understanding, there shouldn't be a problem to include it on a CD-ROM as long as you include the source code too - but I'm no expert in U.S copyright law. -[ from ghostscript/3.33/doc/PUBLIC ]- 2. Restrictions. This license is subject to the following restrictions: (a) Distribution of the Program or any work based on the Program by a commercial organization to any third party is prohibited if any payment is made in connection with such distribution, whether directly (as in payment for a copy of the Program) or indirectly (as in payment for some service related to the Program, or payment for some product or service that includes a copy of the Program "without charge"; these are only examples, and not an exhaustive enumeration of prohibited activities). However, the following methods of distribution involving payment shall not in and of themselves be a violation of this restriction: (i) Posting the Program on a public access information storage and retrieval service for which a fee is received for retrieving information (such as an on-line service), provided that the fee is not content-dependent (i.e., the fee would be the same for retrieving the same volume of information consisting of random data). (ii) Distributing the Program on a CD-ROM, provided that the files containing the Program are reproduced entirely and verbatim on such CD-ROM, and provided further that all information on such CD-ROM be redistributable for non-commercial purposes without charge. -- Greetings -- Siggy (the middle S.)
new prospective package maintainers
Alvar, Two people have offered to help with the system. They are [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ger Timmens) [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bdale Garbee) Would you please offer them guidance in how to be a package maintainer? Bdale uploaded his first package the other day, and so probably is up to speed. Everyone else - please suggest orphaned packages for Ger and Bdale to work on. Bdale is well-known for packet radio software, and I think Ger's done some good Linux stuff. Thanks Bruce Perens -- -- Attention Radio Amateurs: For information on "Linux for Hams", -- read the WWW page http://www.hams.com/LinuxForHams, -- or e-mail the word "help" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Package Giveaway, Take Two
On Mon, 16 Oct 1995, I wrote: > I've recently expanded my evening course load and work has been a > madhouse for the last couple of months (with no relief in sight). > I must cut back substantially on my Debian package load in order to > perform all my work at an acceptable level of quality. > > I would like to find a new home for the following packages: > > adduser (base system element) > ghostscript > gsfonts (not much work, but slow to upload :-) > ncftp (non-free) > svgalib I have found volunteers to maintain adduser and ncftp. Are there any takers for ghostscript, gsfonts or svgalib? Thanks, Ted Hajek
Virtual Packages and version numbering
This follows up a debian-bugs posting with the Subject "Re: Bug#1712: Tex has no version number texbin does" Erick Branderhorst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said: > It might be usefull to let the provides packages have the same version > number as the providing package, or if a specific version number is > given in the provides line providing that version number. Virtual packages were originally proposed, as I recall, to provide a means for alternative packages which conflict with one another but seek to provide the same facility to declare that they each provide that facility so that other packages could declare dependency on the facility rather than on the packages. An example might be the conflicting smail and sendmail packages, either of which would provide an MTA needed by other packages (e.g., pine). Eric's suggestion wouldn't add any value to this use of virtual packages, but wouldn't seem to do any harm either. A quick browse through my /var/lib/dpkg/Status file turned up the following: Package: xlib Provides: xR6shlib, xlibraries Package: dvipsk Provides: dvips Package: texbin Provides: tex Package: libc Provides: libc.so.4 Package: latex Provides: latex Package: ltxtool Provides: ltxtool Package: kpathsea Provides: kpathsea Package: info Provides: info-browser Package: mfbin Provides: metafont In practice, virtual packages seem to be actually being used to provide one or more aliases for one single installing package providing a facility which is not also provided by a conflicting package. Eric's suggestion would seem to be useful in this use of virtual packages.
Unanswered problem reports
The following problem reports have not yet been marked as `taken up' by a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] OVER 8 MONTHS OLD - ATTENTION IS REQUIRED: Ref PackageKeywords/Subject Submitter 379 mount Repeatable mount(1) problem wi Bill Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 416 wenglish perl doesn't flush output auto [EMAIL PROTECTED] 421 term unreasonable restriction on te Raul Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> OVER 7 MONTHS OLD - ATTENTION IS REQUIRED: Ref PackageKeywords/Subject Submitter 563 tartar -x fails to overwrite or c [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 579 image (?) missing /usr/man/man8 manpages Bill Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] OVER 6 MONTHS OLD - ATTENTION IS REQUIRED: Ref PackageKeywords/Subject Submitter 660 gdbGDB gets address of structure [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 662 procps top doesn't behave sensibly if [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 691 textutils textutils package, fmt(1) prog Bill Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 702 findutils locate crash with large db Ernie Elu <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 710 xs3X server problem with hardware [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 713 mh mh should pause after printing [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 723 xconfigX server default configuration [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 725 xbase twm places windows incorrectly [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 729 procps Bizarre corrupted output from [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 731 ncursesncurses wgetnstr doesn't work [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 737 gawk gawk references to `$0' in END [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 740 xbase xclock leaves `droppings' in i Ian Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 746 cpio mt doesn't support setblk (and [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 759 kbd, xbase /usr/bin/X11/showfont conflict [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Raul Miller) 773 xbase xmh falls over if mh is not in [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard K 775 xbase twm reports errors on incorrec [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Richard K 783 tartar --same-order doesn't work [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 784 manpages Infelicities in fopen manpage [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 785 cpio mt problems[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill 786 syslogdsyslogd gone awol [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jacks 797 (base) /etc/termcap console keydefs f Bill Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 798 svgalibsvgalib gets control key mucke [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Raul Miller) 808 emacs Info anchors not active in ema [EMAIL PROTECTED] 817 tartar -T /dev/null extracts whol [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 818 bash bash builtin `echo' doesn't ch [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 819 tartar should have null-separated [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 820 tcsh tcsh builtin `echo' doesn't ch [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 821 shellutils /bin/echo doesn't check write [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 822 tartar -t doesn't check write err [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 824 cpio cpio should have non-verbose, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 825 trntrn warning messages corrupt t [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso OVER 5 MONTHS OLD - ATTENTION IS REQUIRED: Ref PackageKeywords/Subject Submitter 827 libc or sh who reports wrong hostname (wa [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Christian 835 sysklogd syslogd dies, leaves system un [EMAIL PROTECTED] (William 836 (base) Possible bugs in termcap syste "Emilio C. Lopes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 841 ncursesdselect from dpkg 0.93.34 says [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill 844 manpages readdir(3) should document str [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 845 manpages access(2) is ambiguous [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 850 indent [indent] option mentioned in d [EMAIL PROTECTED] (J.H.M 853 shellutils `nice' does not do anything[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 857 gs_bothgs (2.6.1pl4-4) doesn't use /e [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 860 mount `only root can mount' can mean [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 864 make make gets MAKEFLAGS wrong [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 887 xarchieR6 xarchie barfs when ftp closes [EMAIL PROTECTED] 889 info Info 3.1-6 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Emilio C. 902 lprlpr can't print a PostScript f [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso OVER 4 MONTHS OLD - ATTENTION IS REQUIRED: Ref PackageKeywords/Subject Submitter 903 (base) /dev miscellaney Bill Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 911 libc libc causes rsh to fail on com [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 918 miscutils mkboot and image packages [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Bill 923 xbase xdm failed with `unknown sessi [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 927 ncurses? dselect display bugBill Mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED] 932 pine Pine over-encodes files and au [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Ian Jackso 933 pine Pine wants to post my email re [EM
Bug#1713: procps: manpage doesn't tell the truth
Package: procps
Version: 0.97
Package_Revision: 4
The manpage ps(1) tells us:
--- happs 8<--
COMMAND-LINE OPTIONS
Command line arguments may optionally be preceeded by a
'-', but there is no need for it. There are also some
"long options" in GNU style; see below for those.
(..)
wwide output: don't truncate command lines to fit on
one line.
--- happs 8<--
But ps does something else. You may specify up to three 'w's in the
command line and you'll only understand the behaviour if you look at
the code:
--- happs 8<--
int set_maxcmd(int w_opts)
{
struct winsize win;
maxcols = 80;
if (ioctl(1, TIOCGWINSZ, &win) != -1 && win.ws_col > 0)
maxcols = win.ws_col;
switch (w_opts) {
case 0: break;
case 1: maxcols += 52; break;
case 2: maxcols *= 2; break;
default: maxcols = MAXCMD;
}
return maxcols - strlen(hdrs[CL_fmt]) + 7;
}
--- happs 8<--
I would recommend a) change the manpage entry or b) change the whole
handling of 'w'-processing. If the maintainer is interested, I can
send him a patch for the latter
Regards,
Joey
--
/ Martin Schulze * [EMAIL PROTECTED] * 26129 Oldenburg /
/ +49-441-777884 * Login&Passwd: nuucp * Index: ~/ls-lR.gz /
/ http://home.pages.de/~joey/
/ Linux - the choice of a GNU generation/
30.10.95: Oldenburger Linux-Stammtisch, ab 20h im DaCapo
Bug#1714: bash is confused when breaking lines
Package: bash Version: 1.14.4 Package_Revision: 2 bash gets confused when breaking lines that scroll right out of the screen. You can't edit in it, because you really can't see where you are. This bug is fixed in 1.14.5. But in that version filename expansion doesn't work all the time. :-( Regards, Joey
Bug#1712: Tex has no version number texbin does
Package: tex Version: unknown Because of the changes in the TeX directory structure since a few releases of TeX (related) packages, I thought adding a (general) depends line in the xypic package would be smart. I thought it would even be better if I add a version number with it: Depends: tex (>3.1415-4) However, during installation an error message comes up indicating that TeX is not installed. This is probably because of the version number which is checked and which is not reported by the package tex. The tex package (without a version number) is a package provided by texbin (with a version number). It might be usefull to let the provides packages have the same version number as the providing package, or if a specific version number is given in the provides line providing that version number. # dpkg -s tex Package: tex Status: purge ok not-installed Priority: optional Section: tex # dpkg -s tebin Package: texbin Status: install ok installed Priority: standard Section: tex Maintainer: Nils Rennebarth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Version: 3.1415 ~~~ Revision: 4 ~~~ Provides: tex ~ Depends: texlib (>1.0-3), metafont, kpathsea [deleted] Erick -- Erick [EMAIL PROTECTED] +31-10-4635142 Department of General Surgery (Intensive Care) University Hospital Rotterdam NL
Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
Andrew Howell writes: >Package: netstd >Version: 1.18-1 > >popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error > >[kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost >Enter mailserver password: >kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready. >cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew > >[kryten:/home/andrew] dir /var/spool/mail/andrew >-rw-rw 1 andrew mail 1047 Oct 20 17:12 /var/spool/mail/andrew > >I have a similiar problem when using 'mail -p' > >[kryten:/home/andrew] mail -p >Enter POP password: >mail: opening pop connection: -ERR cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew > >Andrew > >-- >Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment >factor - 91%. Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot >startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night! >-- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day' > >Andrew Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Perth, Western Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Look suspiciously like the one I reported in Bug #1704 (with fix) -- Siggy (the middle S.)
Bug#1711: adduser replaces NIS entries in /etc/passwd
Package: adduser Version: 1.94-1 The adduser script replaces NIS entries with real entries, e.g. +guest:/home/guest:/bin/bash will become guest:Et0G64UQTkzbw:1001:100:Guest Account:/home/guest:/bin/bash The adduser script shouldn't touch lines starting with a + or - character. Peter -- Peter TobiasEMail: Fachhochschule Ostfriesland [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fachbereich Elektrotechnik und Informatik [EMAIL PROTECTED] Constantiaplatz 4, 26723 Emden, Germany
Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
Andrew Howell writes ("Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box"):
> Ian Jackson writes:
> > If it does lock the mailbox correctly you may well find that the
> > problem with `popclient localhost' is that popclient and in.pop3d are
> > clashing over the lock on the mailbox. `popclient localhost' is an
> > inherently silly thing to do.
>
> Well netscape 2.0b1's mailmove program didn't have permission to
> create a lock file in /var/spool/mail, and there was no way in hell
> that I was going to make it setuid, so I switched it over to using
> POP instead, and when that gave an error I wondered what the hell was
> going on. So I tried mail and popclient and they both failed as well
Ah. When I said `popclient localhost' was inherently silly, this was
because it was a request to move mail from /var/spool/mail/ to
/var/spool/mail/, which would be pointless even if it worked.
`popclient localhost -o ', on the other hand, ought to
work. It does for me.
Ian.
Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
Ian Jackson writes: > If it does lock the mailbox correctly you may well find that the > problem with `popclient localhost' is that popclient and in.pop3d are > clashing over the lock on the mailbox. `popclient localhost' is an > inherently silly thing to do. Well netscape 2.0b1's mailmove program didn't have permission to create a lock file in /var/spool/mail, and there was no way in hell that I was going to make it setuid, so I switched it over to using POP instead, and when that gave an error I wondered what the hell was going on. So I tried mail and popclient and they both failed as well Andrew -- Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment factor - 91%. Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night! -- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day' Andrew Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Perth, Western Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
Andrew Howell writes ("Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box"):
> popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error
>
> [kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost
> Enter mailserver password:
> kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready.
> cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew
This would appear to imply that popclient has been compiled to dump
mail in the standard incoming mailbox by default. However, I see from
the manpage:
The retrieved messages are normally appended to your
default system mailbox on the local disk, using the local
Mail Delivery Agent (MDA), usually /usr/bin/mail(1), so
that when you invoke your mail reader it can manipulate
the retrieved messages like any other mail you receive on
the client machine.
Using the -o option, you can specify a different mail
folder to which the retrieved messages will be appended.
If you prefer, for example, to have your POP mail from a
machine called 'mailgrunt' stored in the mbox file in your
home directory, you would start popclient as follows:
popclient -o $HOME/mbox mailgrunt
Note that the folder specified with -o is not locked or
otherwise protected from other processes writing to it
while popclient is writing to it.
I don't find this reassuring. Could the popclient maintainer please
check that the correct locking *is* done for the system mailbox (it
doesn't imply that it isn't, but it doesn't say that it is), and then
document this ?
If it does lock the mailbox correctly you may well find that the
problem with `popclient localhost' is that popclient and in.pop3d are
clashing over the lock on the mailbox. `popclient localhost' is an
inherently silly thing to do.
Furthermore, the manpage coontains the following example, which
purports to describe how to use the `-c' (squirt to stdout) option
safely:
popclient -k -c mailgrunt | myfilter
> $HOME/filtered.mail
followed by
popclient -c mailgrunt > /dev/null
This won't work correctly, because it has a race condition. It would
appear that there is no safe way to use the -c option except in
conjunction with the -k option. Could this fact be documented,
please ?
I'm pleased to see, though, that popclient appears to spot write
errors on the output file.
Thanks,
Ian.
Re: [ewt@redhat.com: Red Hat Alpha Packages]
>It's the RedHat Package Manager. They would be interested in collaborating >with us, according to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . We've been a bit too busy bringing >out the system to get to that, though. That would be fairly interesting... 'glint' and a few of their other maintenance toolss seem to have a fairly powerful yet appealing interface... -- Richard W Kaszeta Graduate Student [EMAIL PROTECTED] University of MN, ME Dept http://www.me.umn.edu/0h/home/kaszeta/www.html
Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
Package: netstd Version: 1.18-1 popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error [kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost Enter mailserver password: kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready. cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew [kryten:/home/andrew] dir /var/spool/mail/andrew -rw-rw 1 andrew mail 1047 Oct 20 17:12 /var/spool/mail/andrew I have a similiar problem when using 'mail -p' [kryten:/home/andrew] mail -p Enter POP password: mail: opening pop connection: -ERR cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew Andrew -- Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment factor - 91%. Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night! -- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day' Andrew Howell [EMAIL PROTECTED] Perth, Western Australia [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Bug#1709: usr/sbin/pppd needs to be setuid (chmod u+s)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 21:14:31 -0400 From: Matthew Swift <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The pppd executable needs to have the setuid bit set when it is installed. No, this was done intentionally. Making pppd setuid root is a huge security hole. The solution is to run pppd as root. There really isn't any reason for normal users to be executing it.
Re: [ewt@redhat.com: Red Hat Alpha Packages]
[EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > Ok... so what's RPM? Anyone know? Any lessons to learn here? Or > people to cooperate with? It's the RedHat Package Manager. They would be interested in collaborating with us, according to [EMAIL PROTECTED] . We've been a bit too busy bringing out the system to get to that, though. RPM is under the GPL, and we can steal as much as we like from it. They have a _source_ package system that may be superior to ours - it does a lot more than we do with just the .tar.gz and the .diff.gz files for our source packages. If you have the time to research this, go forth! Bruce -- -- Attention Radio Amateurs: For information on "Linux for Hams", -- read the WWW page http://www.hams.com/LinuxForHams, -- or e-mail the word "help" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
