another question based on something that tripped me up last week teaching, when i tried a simple demo and was confused by the result.
was demonstrating how "rpm -V" could verify an installed package, and randomly chose the "setup" package since it consists of numerous fundamental system files for which some errors in verification would be cause for concern, and got the following on my F27 system:
$ rpm -V setup .M....... c /etc/fstab S.5....T. c /etc/printcap S.5....T. c /etc/profile .M....G.. g /var/log/lastlog $
i have no problem with files whose contents will invariably change after further configuration, but i was confused about the "M" flag for /etc/fstab, suggesting that the mode (type/permissions) for that file were different from the installation values.
as i see it, why should any system config file like /etc/fstab change its mode after installation? shouldn't a file like that be installed with the correct mode from the beginning?
i took a look at the spec file for that package here:
https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/setup/blob/master/f/setup.spec
and i notice that other files, after being "touch"ed, are chmoded to 0644, but not /etc/fstab/, whose current mode on my system is 0664:
-rw-rw-r--. 1 root root 628 Jan 14 2016 /etc/fstab
as a test, i chmod'ed /etc/fstab to 0644, and the verify diagnostic went away.
i realize this discrepancy isn't a problem -- things will continue to work just fine -- but it seems unnecessary to generate a superfluous "rpm -V" line for /etc/fstab if it were installed with non-matching mode in the first place.
is there some reason for the above? am i missing something?
rday
On Fri, 9 Mar 2018, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
another question based on something that tripped me up last week teaching, when i tried a simple demo and was confused by the result.
was demonstrating how "rpm -V" could verify an installed package, and randomly chose the "setup" package since it consists of numerous fundamental system files for which some errors in verification would be cause for concern, and got the following on my F27 system:
$ rpm -V setup .M....... c /etc/fstab S.5....T. c /etc/printcap S.5....T. c /etc/profile .M....G.. g /var/log/lastlog $
i have no problem with files whose contents will invariably change after further configuration, but i was confused about the "M" flag for /etc/fstab, suggesting that the mode (type/permissions) for that file were different from the installation values.
as i see it, why should any system config file like /etc/fstab change its mode after installation? shouldn't a file like that be installed with the correct mode from the beginning?
i took a look at the spec file for that package here:
https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/setup/blob/master/f/setup.spec
and i notice that other files, after being "touch"ed, are chmoded to 0644, but not /etc/fstab/, whose current mode on my system is 0664:
-rw-rw-r--. 1 root root 628 Jan 14 2016 /etc/fstab
as a test, i chmod'ed /etc/fstab to 0644, and the verify diagnostic went away.
as another random example, i verified the systemd package and got (in part) much the same:
$ rpm -V systemd .M....... c /etc/locale.conf .M....... c /etc/machine-id .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/basic.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/bluetooth.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/getty.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/graphical.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/local-fs.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/network-online.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/printer.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/remote-fs.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/sockets.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/sysinit.target.wants .M....... g /etc/systemd/system/timers.target.wants ... snip ...
all of these verify warnings seem unnecessary, but i'm willing to be corrected as to what is actually happening here.
rday
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Robert P. J. Day