[Pkg-shadow-devel] Bug#638263: Bug#638263: shadowconfig uses "pwck -p" and "grpck -p" which aren't actually supported

[Thomas Bushnell, BSG]

Sorry, I confused -p and -q!

In any case, since this is called at installs, *no *prompting is allowed,
and it totally breaks an install when it comes up.

The -p option "Fixes errors but does not report them." (
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/v5r3/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.aix.cmds/doc/aixcmds2/grpck.htm
).

I don't object to -q, but I don't see the point of calling it at all in that
case. ::shrug::

The important case is that the prompt go away in installs. That would need
to be fixed in user-setup-apply. (finish-install's postinst calls
06user-setup, which calls user-setup-apply, which calls shadowconfig, or
something like that.)

Thomas


On Fri, Sep 9, 2011 at 1:48 PM, Nicolas François <
nicolas.francois at centraliens.net> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> On Tue, Sep 06, 2011 at 03:36:59PM -0700, tb at becket.net wrote:
> > On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:10 AM, Nicolas François <
> > nicolas.francois at centraliens.net> wrote:
> > > On Wed, Aug 17, 2011 at 07:37:47PM -0700, tb at becket.net wrote:
> > > >
> > > > /sbin/shadowconfig from the passwd package uses "pwck -p" and "grpck
> -p".
> > > On
> > > > some other systems, the -p flag to these programs says to silently
> fix
> > > > problems found in those files.
> > >
> > > Can you point me where "pwck -p" is called?
> >
> > In /sbin/shadowconfig, in both the shadowon() and shadowoff() functions;
> > passwd package version 1:4.1.4.2+svn3283-2+squeeze1.
>
> This uses pwck -q not pwck -p
>
> > > Could you provide a /etc/group - /etc/gshadow configuration where grpck
> > > ignores the -p option and prompt for confirmation?
> >
> > # echo mumblefoo:x:5000:mumblemumble >> /etc/group
> > # grpck -p
> > group mumblefoo: no user mumblemumble
> > delete member 'mumblemumble'?
>
> Thanks.
>
> I dig a bit regarding the -p option of grpck.
> It was introduced to silently fix a bug in groupdel 10 years ago. I think
> this Debian specific patch should be removed.
> http://bugs.debian.org/103385
>
> (Also, the patch is now buggy because it does not remove the invalid
> lines. It just print Yes, and continue without prompting and removing the
> line)
>
> Do you have a description of what the -p option does (for grpck or pwck)
> on other systems?
> (It might have come from AIX)
>
>
> Then the question is how shadowconfig should behave?
> Currently, with pwck -q, the user is prompted in case of an error which
> can be fixed easily interactively, but other errors are not displayed
> (e.g. invalid home directory or primary group).
> The goal is just to be a bit less verbose, especially because
>
> The -q option with the same behavior already exists for grpck. It does
> nothing because for each error detected, there is a proposed solution
> (e.g. delete an invalid line, remove an invalid user from the list of
> members / admins)
>
>
> If the intent is to show the errors without giving the opportunity to fix
> the errors, the -r option should be used.
>
> During installs, prompts on stdin are not allowed (debconf would have to
> be used), so shadowconfig could be use:
> pwck -q -r (to avoid too many warnings and to avoid prompting)
> grpck -r   (to avoid prompting)
>
> This behavior should not be the default behavior of shadowconfig, so
> shadowconfig should also receive a --no-prompt option to activate the -r
> option of the checkers.
>
> Do you agree?
>
> Best Regards
> --
> Nekral
>
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