Debian Bug report logs - #819923
e2fsprogs: please move filefrag to /usr/bin/

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

From: Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl>

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

Subject: e2fsprogs: please move filefrag to /usr/bin/

Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2016 00:39:53 +0200

Package: e2fsprogs
Version: 1.43~WIP.2016.03.15-2
Severity: wishlist

Hi!
As "filefrag" seems to work fine for non-root, I think it should be moved
from */sbin/ to */bin/.  In the past, it used FIBMAP which indeed was
root-only but as since kernel 2.6.28 we have FIEMAP, filefrag is useful for
ordinary users.



-- System Information:
Debian Release: stretch/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'stable'), (150, 'experimental')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.6.0-rc1-x32+ (SMP w/6 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=C.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: sysvinit (via /sbin/init)

Versions of packages e2fsprogs depends on:
ii  e2fslibs    1.43~WIP.2016.03.15-2
ii  libblkid1   2.27.1-6.0nosystemd1
ii  libc6       2.22-5
ii  libcomerr2  1.43~WIP.2016.03.15-2
ii  libss2      1.43~WIP.2016.03.15-2
ii  libuuid1    2.27.1-6.0nosystemd1
ii  util-linux  2.27.1-6.0nosystemd1

e2fsprogs recommends no packages.

Versions of packages e2fsprogs suggests:
pn  e2fsck-static  <none>
pn  gpart          <none>
ii  parted         3.2-15

-- no debconf information

Message #10 received at 819923@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu>

To: Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl>, 819923@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#819923: e2fsprogs: please move filefrag to /usr/bin/

Date: Sat, 30 Apr 2016 22:39:35 -0400

On Mon, Apr 04, 2016 at 12:39:53AM +0200, Adam Borowski wrote:
> As "filefrag" seems to work fine for non-root, I think it should be moved
> from */sbin/ to */bin/.  In the past, it used FIBMAP which indeed was
> root-only but as since kernel 2.6.28 we have FIEMAP, filefrag is useful for
> ordinary users.

It's the "useful for ordinary users" test which I question.  Most
users (unless they have sudo access) aren't going to have raw access
to the block device, so the actual block numbers aren't going to
matter.  Nor does knowing how fragmented a file might be going to be
of interest to most users.  To system administrators and file system
developers, yes --- but to most users, I don't think so.

Moving binaries around can break shell scripts, and doesn't really add
a lot of value.  If you're the sort of user that is interested in
using filefrag, you'll probably also be interested in mkfs or debugfs,
and those are in /sbin as well.  So just add /sbin to your path.  :-)

    	      	       	  	 - Ted

Message #15 received at 819923@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Adam Borowski <kilobyte@angband.pl>

To: 819923@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: Bug#819923: e2fsprogs: please move filefrag to /usr/bin/

Date: Sun, 1 May 2016 05:56:06 +0200

On Sat, Apr 30, 2016 at 10:39:35PM -0400, Theodore Ts'o wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 04, 2016 at 12:39:53AM +0200, Adam Borowski wrote:
> > As "filefrag" seems to work fine for non-root, I think it should be moved
> > from */sbin/ to */bin/.  In the past, it used FIBMAP which indeed was
> > root-only but as since kernel 2.6.28 we have FIEMAP, filefrag is useful for
> > ordinary users.
> 
> It's the "useful for ordinary users" test which I question.  Most
> users (unless they have sudo access) aren't going to have raw access
> to the block device, so the actual block numbers aren't going to
> matter.  Nor does knowing how fragmented a file might be going to be
> of interest to most users.  To system administrators and file system
> developers, yes --- but to most users, I don't think so.

Looking at block numbers is useless on ext4, yes.  But on CoW-capable
filesystems it lets you know whether you're looking at two references to the
same file (or, if you actually parse the output, what parts are shared
between two modified copies of the file).

This is useful for example if:
* you're looking for duplicates (for whatever reason)
* you're interested in knowing how much disk space a set of files takes

> Moving binaries around can break shell scripts, and doesn't really add
> a lot of value.  If you're the sort of user that is interested in
> using filefrag, you'll probably also be interested in mkfs or debugfs,
> and those are in /sbin as well.  So just add /sbin to your path.  :-)

mkfs and debugfs have pretty limited uses for non-root (although non-zero
if eg. qemu is involved).  On the other hand, reflink detection has
mainstream uses even for a sharply restricted user (because of quota, etc).

-- 
A tit a day keeps the vet away.

Message #20 received at 819923@bugs.debian.org (full text, mbox, reply):

From: Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason <avarab@gmail.com>

To: 819923@bugs.debian.org

Subject: Re: e2fsprogs: please move filefrag to /usr/bin/

Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2017 12:18:53 +0100

Tacking this onto this related bug instead of filing a new one. I
noticed today that I couldn't run this doesn't need root command
without prepending /sbin:

$ dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/image bs=1024 count=1024
$ /sbin/mke2fs /tmp/image

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