Debian Bug report logs - #269710
hotplug/usb_keyboard is debconf note abuse and should be moved to a README

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Message #5 received at submit@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: "Eric C. Cooper" <ecc@cmu.edu>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <submit@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Thu, 02 Sep 2004 21:49:06 -0400

Package: debian-installer
Severity: normal


I tried the sarge rc1 netinst iso yesterday.  Everything worked fine,
but the configuration of the hotplug package left mail from Debconf in
/var/mail/mail.  Since exim4-config does not set up an alias for user
"mail", it is unlikely to get seen by anyone.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (990, 'testing'), (800, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Kernel: Linux 2.6.8.1
Locale: LANG=en_US, LC_CTYPE=en_US

Message #10 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

To: "Eric C. Cooper" <ecc@cmu.edu>, 269710@bugs.debian.org

Cc: hotplug@packages.debian.org, exim4-config@packages.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 11:51:26 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Eric C. Cooper wrote:
> I tried the sarge rc1 netinst iso yesterday.  Everything worked fine,
> but the configuration of the hotplug package left mail from Debconf in
> /var/mail/mail.  Since exim4-config does not set up an alias for user
> "mail", it is unlikely to get seen by anyone.

It's so well hidden that Eric is probably the first to notice this,
though I found a copy on each machine I've installed with d-i. Here's the
message:

  If you're booting with a USB keyboard and/or mouse, and want to defend
  against boot failures like missing modules, you should probably use static
  linking for the "hid", "keybdev" (and/or "mousedev"), "input", "usbcore",
  and USB Host Controller modules.

The reason this goes to /var/mail/mail is because hotplug is installed as part
of the installation of the base system, immediatly after debootstrap,
and at this point, the exim (or other mailer on some derived
distributions) configuration is completly stock. For exim this means
that mail to root is redirected to the mail user. There's also no
debconf frontend to use to display notes.

Note that after the base system install, exim is configured as part of
the base-config run, and begins to send mail to a more sane location,
such as the new user created by the base-config run. But that's too late
to get this note sent somewhere sane.

I feel there are several bugs here:

 - d-i should really provide a way for package it is installing to
   communicate with the user via debconf, at least to inform the user of
   errors. But that's a long term thing. It might possibly be worthwhile
   for d-i to set the environment variable to supress notes being
   mailed at all during the installation process.
 - exim really should have a better default than dumping root mail in
   "mail"'s mailbox
 - hotplug should not display this note on fresh debian installs,
   because even if the user saw it, it would only be confusing. The note
   is, after all, recommending the user recompile their kernel, which is
   really not possible when you're in the middle of bootstrapping
   debian. And the stock debian kernel with modular usb works fine. If
   anything, this note should be moved to the README.Debian file. I
   really consider it yet another instance of Debconf note abuse; be
   warned that debconf notes will probably be going away entirely
   after sarge is released, due to such abuse.

I'm going to split this bug up into three separate bugs as detailed
above.

-- 
see shy jo

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Message #27 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>

To: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>, 269710@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 18:03:50 +0200

On Fri, Sep 03, 2004 at 11:51:26AM -0400, Joey Hess wrote:
[...] 
> The reason this goes to /var/mail/mail is because hotplug is installed as part
> of the installation of the base system, immediatly after debootstrap,
> and at this point, the exim (or other mailer on some derived
> distributions) configuration is completly stock. For exim this means
> that mail to root is redirected to the mail user. There's also no
> debconf frontend to use to display notes.

> Note that after the base system install, exim is configured as part of
> the base-config run, and begins to send mail to a more sane location,
> such as the new user created by the base-config run. But that's too late
> to get this note sent somewhere sane.
[...]
>  - exim really should have a better default than dumping root mail in
>    "mail"'s mailbox
[...]

Dumping into /var/mail/mail is the last resort, Exim cannot do
anything really sensible with the mail at this point, it cannot dump
it to /var/mail/root (because that should be owned by root:mail and
exim cannot deliver as root.).
                         cu andreas

Message #32 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

To: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>

Cc: 269710@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 12:13:34 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Andreas Metzler wrote:
> Dumping into /var/mail/mail is the last resort, Exim cannot do
> anything really sensible with the mail at this point, it cannot dump
> it to /var/mail/root (because that should be owned by root:mail and
> exim cannot deliver as root.).

Hmm, I thought exim managed to send mail to /var/mail/root if it was
force configured to send root mail to root.

-- 
see shy jo

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Message #37 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>

To: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>, 269710@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 18:30:05 +0200

On Fri, Sep 03, 2004 at 12:13:34PM -0400, Joey Hess wrote:
> Andreas Metzler wrote:
> > Dumping into /var/mail/mail is the last resort, Exim cannot do
> > anything really sensible with the mail at this point, it cannot dump
> > it to /var/mail/root (because that should be owned by root:mail and
> > exim cannot deliver as root.).
> 
> Hmm, I thought exim managed to send mail to /var/mail/root if it was
> force configured to send root mail to root.

Hello,
Older versions of exim up to 4.22 indeed could be configured at
run-time to run deliveries at root. Since 4.23 running deliveries at
root is disabled for security reasons and enabling it requires
recompiling. (change 4.23/5)

    (a) There is now a build-time option called FIXED_NEVER_USERS that
	can be put in Local/Makefile. This is like the never_users
	runtime option, but it cannot be overridden. The default
	setting is "root".

I think the win for security is worth the payoff.

                cu andreas

Message #42 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Marco d'Itri <md@Linux.IT>

To: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>, 269710@bugs.debian.org

Cc: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 18:49:32 +0200

I want to remove all debconf stuff from hotplug (as I believe it's
useless), but I can't see this happening before sarge is released.

-- 
ciao, |
Marco | [7779 covzY9.S28zv6]

Message #47 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>

To: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>, 269710@bugs.debian.org

Cc: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>, Marco d'Itri <md@Linux.IT>

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Sat, 04 Sep 2004 03:13:21 +0900

At Fri, 3 Sep 2004 18:49:32 +0200,
Marco d'Itri wrote:
 
> I want to remove all debconf stuff from hotplug (as I believe it's
> useless), but I can't see this happening before sarge is released.

I tried to upload this

hotplug (0.0.20040329-15) testing-proposed-updates unstable; urgency=low

  * remove hotplug/usb_keyboard debconf note, and move the note
    to README.Debian.
    closes: Bug#269710

 -- Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>  Sat,  4 Sep 2004 02:05:49 +0900

and

hotplug (0.0.20040329-15) unstable testing-proposed-updates; urgency=low

  * remove hotplug/usb_keyboard debconf note, and move the note
    to README.Debian.
    closes: Bug#269710

 -- Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>  Sat,  4 Sep 2004 02:05:49 +0900

But it was rejected

Rejected: hotplug_0.0.20040329-15_all.deb: old version (0.0.20040329-14) in unstable <= new version (0.0.20040329-15) targeted at testing-proposed-updates.~%
Rejected: hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.dsc: old version (0.0.20040329-14) in unstable <= new version (0.0.20040329-15) targeted at testing-proposed-updates.

What is the right way to upload both testing-proposed-updates and unstable?
Should I upload different versions for each distribution?

Regards,
Fumitoshi UKAI

Message #52 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>

To: Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>

Cc: 269710@bugs.debian.org, Andreas Metzler <ametzler@logic.univie.ac.at>, Marco d'Itri <md@Linux.IT>

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 14:34:43 -0400

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Fumitoshi UKAI wrote:
> At Fri, 3 Sep 2004 18:49:32 +0200,
> Marco d'Itri wrote:
>  
> > I want to remove all debconf stuff from hotplug (as I believe it's
> > useless), but I can't see this happening before sarge is released.

I tend to agree with MD that this is not RC for sarge. We will probably
kill all debconf notes from being emailed during the base system install
in d-i.

> But it was rejected
> 
> Rejected: hotplug_0.0.20040329-15_all.deb: old version (0.0.20040329-14) in unstable <= new version (0.0.20040329-15) targeted at testing-proposed-updates.~%
> Rejected: hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.dsc: old version (0.0.20040329-14) in unstable <= new version (0.0.20040329-15) targeted at testing-proposed-updates.
> 
> What is the right way to upload both testing-proposed-updates and unstable?
> Should I upload different versions for each distribution?

Since there are currently the same versions in sarge and sid, you can
upload just to sid and convince the RM's to copy it to sarge. They are
able to do this.

(Alternatively, if you need to upload to t-p-u, you must
make sure that whatever version you upload to t-p-u has a lower version
number than the version that was in sid at the previous dinstall. So for
example, you could upload a -15 to unstable today and a -14sarge1 to
t-p-u tomorrow.)

-- 
see shy jo

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Message #57 received at 269710@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Andreas Metzler <ametzler@downhill.at.eu.org>

To: Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>

Cc: Joey Hess <joeyh@debian.org>, 269710@bugs.debian.org, Marco d'Itri <md@Linux.IT>

Subject: Re: Bug#269710: debian-installer: hotplug configuration leaves mail in /var/mail/mail

Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 20:34:24 +0200

On 2004-09-03 Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp> wrote:
[...]
> Rejected: hotplug_0.0.20040329-15_all.deb: old version (0.0.20040329-14) in unstable <= new version (0.0.20040329-15) targeted at testing-proposed-updates.~%
> Rejected: hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.dsc: old version (0.0.20040329-14) in unstable <= new version (0.0.20040329-15) targeted at testing-proposed-updates.

> What is the right way to upload both testing-proposed-updates and unstable?

You cannot do that directly[1]. One reason it is forbidden is
that packages for unstable and sarge need to be autobuilt in different
chroots.

> Should I upload different versions for each distribution?

You can either make two separate uploads, first one to unstable and
once this has been accepted you can upload the version for tpu. The
version number of the tpu upload must be strictly greater than the one
currently in sarge and strictly lower than the one in sid.

But afaict http://release.debian.org/base-standard-freeze.txt
hotplug is not frozen, so there is no need for tpu.
              cu andreas

[1] Actually most of the updates of frozen packages in sarge where
done with a single upload. You upload to sid and mail debian-release
to ask to push it into testing. - The amount of work for the release
managers is the same for this solution as for accepting a tpu upload,
therefore this has been prefered, as it is less complicated and does
not require double building.

-- 
"See, I told you they'd listen to Reason," [SPOILER] Svfurlr fnlf,
fuhggvat qbja gur juveyvat tha.
Neal Stephenson in "Snow Crash"

Message #62 received at 269710-close@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>

To: 269710-close@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#269710: fixed in hotplug 0.0.20040329-15

Date: Fri, 03 Sep 2004 14:32:03 -0400

Source: hotplug
Source-Version: 0.0.20040329-15

We believe that the bug you reported is fixed in the latest version of
hotplug, which is due to be installed in the Debian FTP archive:

hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.diff.gz
  to pool/main/h/hotplug/hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.diff.gz
hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.dsc
  to pool/main/h/hotplug/hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.dsc
hotplug_0.0.20040329-15_all.deb
  to pool/main/h/hotplug/hotplug_0.0.20040329-15_all.deb



A summary of the changes between this version and the previous one is
attached.

Thank you for reporting the bug, which will now be closed.  If you
have further comments please address them to 269710@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp> (supplier of updated hotplug package)

(This message was generated automatically at their request; if you
believe that there is a problem with it please contact the archive
administrators by mailing ftpmaster@debian.org)


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Format: 1.7
Date: Sat,  4 Sep 2004 02:05:49 +0900
Source: hotplug
Binary: hotplug
Architecture: source all
Version: 0.0.20040329-15
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>
Changed-By: Fumitoshi UKAI <ukai@debian.or.jp>
Description: 
 hotplug    - Linux Hotplug Scripts
Closes: 269710
Changes: 
 hotplug (0.0.20040329-15) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   * remove hotplug/usb_keyboard debconf note, and move the note
     to README.Debian.
     closes: Bug#269710
Files: 
 0ab0a945de2cc11262061210075d70e6 673 admin standard hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.dsc
 0b0cec74d6c511c41cf66ca78c6a7f7b 42109 admin standard hotplug_0.0.20040329-15.diff.gz
 edf19694cb88d06f91fe4b2a62b13f9d 60634 admin standard hotplug_0.0.20040329-15_all.deb

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