Debian Bug report logs - #469165
/usr/sbin/deluser: deluser thinks I want to remove the root user

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

From: Bram Senders <bram@luon.net>

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

Subject: /usr/sbin/deluser: deluser thinks I want to remove the root user

Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:19:35 +0100

Package: adduser
Version: 3.106
Severity: important
File: /usr/sbin/deluser

Deluser gives an error and then thinks I want to remove the root user.
See the following transcript:

===
bram@tofu ~> sudo deluser --remove-all-files test
Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/sbin/deluser line 228.
WARNING: You are just about to delete the root account (uid 0)
Usually this is never required as it may render the whole system unusable
Press immediately Ctrl+C if you want to abort
===

The referenced line 228 contains the following: "if ($uid == 0) {", so I
guess $uid does not get set; this might be because the "getpwnam($user)"
call on line 211 is only done if the "system" config parameter is set.

Cheers,
Bram Senders

-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
Architecture: powerpc (ppc)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.24-1-powerpc
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.19     Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                        1:4.1.0-2  change and administer password and
ii  perl-base                     5.8.8-12   The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbis

adduser recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
  adduser/homedir-permission: true

Message #10 received at 469165@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Joerg Hoh <joerg@joerghoh.de>

To: Bram Senders <bram@luon.net>, 469165@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#469165: /usr/sbin/deluser: deluser thinks I want to remove the root user

Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2008 21:31:09 +0100

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

Hi

On Mon, Mar 03, 2008 at 03:19:35PM +0100, Bram Senders wrote:
> Package: adduser
> Version: 3.106
> Severity: important
> File: /usr/sbin/deluser
> 
> Deluser gives an error and then thinks I want to remove the root user.
> See the following transcript:
> 
> ===
> bram@tofu ~> sudo deluser --remove-all-files test
> Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/sbin/deluser line 228.
> WARNING: You are just about to delete the root account (uid 0)
> Usually this is never required as it may render the whole system unusable
> Press immediately Ctrl+C if you want to abort
> ===
> 
> The referenced line 228 contains the following: "if ($uid == 0) {", so I
> guess $uid does not get set; this might be because the "getpwnam($user)"
> call on line 211 is only done if the "system" config parameter is set.

The correct variable would be "$pw_uid" which is always initialized with
the data of the user to delete (see line 173); the patch will go into next
release. Thanks for reporting.

Jörg

-- 
What did you do to the cat? It looks half-dead. -Schroedinger's wife

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #17 received at 469165@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: koen@vermeer.tv

To: "469165@bugs.debian.org" <469165@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: What did it actually do?

Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:30:45 +0100 (CET)

I just encountered the same bug. I was too slow to press ctrl-c in time,
and now I'm scared. Did it actually delete the root account? Did it delete
any account?

Thanks,
Koen

Message #24 received at 469165@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: neologix@free.fr

To: 469165@bugs.debian.org

Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:06:29 +0100

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

Tags: patch

The patch attached solves this problem, and makes local some variables only used
in the block where the "system" option is tested.

Cheers,

Charles

[deluser_uid.diff (text/x-diff, attachment)]

Message #29 received at 469165@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Francois Marier <francois@debian.org>

To: 469165@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Why would one delete the root user?

Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:04:46 +1300

Just out of curiosity:  Why would one ever want to delete the root user
account?

Is this something we should warn about or block entirely?  I mean, I can't
see this action not being an error on the part of the user or of a script...

Francois

Message #34 received at 469165@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Christian Pernegger <pernegger@gmail.com>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <469165@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: /usr/sbin/deluser: how did that make it into testing?

Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:35:10 +0100

Package: adduser
Version: 3.106
Followup-For: Bug #469165


Admittedly I don't delete users that often, so this bug may be here
for some time, but I'm wondering how this could get into 'testing'.

As it is deluser
- can't delete any user
- deletes the root account if one isn't very fast

Please remove the strange CTRL-C check and maybe add a --force flag
instead, without which such an operation would be impossible.

If a new adduser package isn't going to hit testing very soon please
consider rolling back the version in testing to the last working one
in the meantime.

*shudder*

Chris


-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers testing
  APT policy: (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.22-3-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_AT.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_AT.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.20     Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                        1:4.1.0-2  change and administer password and
ii  perl-base                     5.8.8-12   The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbis

adduser recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
  adduser/homedir-permission: true

Message #39 received at 469165@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Alexander Davydenko <mba@starnet.ru>

To: Debian Bug Tracking System <469165@bugs.debian.org>

Subject: adduser: It's realy pain to see if I delete a root user

Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:09:09 +0300

Package: adduser
Version: 3.106
Followup-For: Bug #469165


Please see that:

my_host:~# deluser myuser
Use of uninitialized value in numeric eq (==) at /usr/sbin/deluser line 228.
WARNING: You are just about to delete the root account (uid 0)
Usually this is never required as it may render the whole system unusable
Press immediately Ctrl+C if you want to abort
Ok, you really want it, I'll delete that account

Fortunately it just a script mistake.


-- System Information:
Debian Release: lenny/sid
  APT prefers testing-proposed-updates
  APT policy: (500, 'testing-proposed-updates'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 2.6.22 (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=ru_RU.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]         1.5.19     Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                        1:4.1.0-2  change and administer password and
ii  perl-base                     5.8.8-12   The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbis

adduser recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
  adduser/homedir-permission: true

Message #44 received at 469165-close@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Stephen Gran <sgran@debian.org>

To: 469165-close@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Bug#469165: fixed in adduser 3.107

Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:17:03 +0000

Source: adduser
Source-Version: 3.107

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

adduser_3.107.dsc
  to pool/main/a/adduser/adduser_3.107.dsc
adduser_3.107.tar.gz
  to pool/main/a/adduser/adduser_3.107.tar.gz
adduser_3.107_all.deb
  to pool/main/a/adduser/adduser_3.107_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 469165@bugs.debian.org,
and the maintainer will reopen the bug report if appropriate.

Debian distribution maintenance software
pp.
Stephen Gran <sgran@debian.org> (supplier of updated adduser 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: Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:43:30 +0000
Source: adduser
Binary: adduser
Architecture: source all
Version: 3.107
Distribution: unstable
Urgency: low
Maintainer: Debian Adduser Developers <adduser-devel@lists.alioth.debian.org>
Changed-By: Stephen Gran <sgran@debian.org>
Description: 
 adduser    - add and remove users and groups
Closes: 469165 470464 470847 471705 471903 472349
Changes: 
 adduser (3.107) unstable; urgency=low
 .
   [ Joerg Hoh ]
   * deluser: fix really annoying message about removing root account when removing
     just a simple user. (Closes: #469165, #470464, #470847, #471705, #472349)
 .
   [ Stephen Gran ]
   * Translations:
     - eu (thanks Piarres Beobide <pi@beobide.net>)(closes: #471903)
Files: 
 0dd290f4b8f57d3d61413596163adf01 835 admin important adduser_3.107.dsc
 85f472ae5cedaea852c487ce7f6bd1e3 264145 admin important adduser_3.107.tar.gz
 f5bf39bfa88f28632bb193990976314f 172946 admin important adduser_3.107_all.deb

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