unusual Update Manager update offering

[Default User]

On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 21:30 +0200, Nils Kassube wrote:
> Default User wrote:
> > find / -name libtotem-plparse\*
> >
> > and wonder why I get no results found.  Yes, I do feel stupid.  BTW,
> > why "\" at the end of the filename argument, and not just "\"? What
> > does the "\" do?
> 
> The "\" is needed because otherwise the shell would expand any filenames 
> which match the wildcard pattern "libtotem-plparse*" in your current 
> directory. If there is no such file, it isn't needed. However if there is 
> such a file, you will not get the expected result. As an alternative you 
> could use quotes.
> 
> > I normally use "sudo" with "find" because when I don't, I get a very
> > long list of directories not searched, each with a "permission denied"
> > error message.  
> 
> You can avoid the error messages like this:
> 
> find / -name libtotem-plparse\* 2>/dev/null
> 
> > If you don't know where a file should be, or even if it 
> > exists, (which is why you are using "find"), how can you do a full
> > search without using sudo?
> 
> Granted, if you really have to search in every directory, sudo may be 
> necessary. But nearly every file installed from Ubuntu packages are in 
> world readable directories.
> 
> > And what are the security risks of using 
> > "sudo find", especially on a local filesystem?
> 
> The risk is damaging your system because find is a possibly dangerous 
> command (e.g. with the -delete option), especially if you get the syntax 
> wrong.
> 
> 
> Nils
> 

Thanks for the feedback! It is appreciated.