[Bug 404602] [NEW] Man page says default fir for slrnrc should be HOME, but it isn't.

ShadowTek psistormyamato at lavabit.com
Sat Jul 25 17:10:22 UTC 2009


Public bug reported:

Binary package hint: slrn

I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 AMD64 Desktop, with slrn 1.0.0~pre2-1.

The man page makes several references to the default dir for slrnrc as
being HOME, but that wasn't where it was looking.

>From the man page:
/////
" -i config-file
              Read file as the initialization (slrnrc) file.  The default is to use .slrnrc (or slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory."

"    SLRNHOME
              When interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory, slrn uses this variable to find out what your home directory is.  If $SLRNHOME is unset, $HOME is used instead."

"       $HOME/.slrnrc
              User-specific configuration file."
/////

When I first started slrn, it said:
...
   Reading startup file /etc/news/slrn.rc.
...

I then started slrn with the "-i" switch to use the file that was actually in $HOME, and the result was:
...
   Reading startup file /etc/news/slrn.rc.
   Reading startup file slrn.rc.
...

So now it's trying to read from 2 files? lol

I thought that maybe the use of the file in the root-owned /etc/ dir
would be an intentional security move, but if the default permissions
still allow non-root users to read the file, including passwords stored
in it, then what good is it for security purposes?

Anyway, I just went ahead and started using the file in /etc/news/, and
there's no problems with that.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I tried setting SLRNHOME=$HOME in
.bashrc, but that had no effect on where slrn was looking for slrnrc.

** Affects: slrn (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Description changed:

  Binary package hint: slrn
  
  I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 AMD64 Desktop, with slrn 1.0.0~pre2-1.
  
- The man page makes several references to the default dir for slrnrn as
+ The man page makes several references to the default dir for slrnrc as
  being HOME, but that wasn't where it was looking.
  
  From the man page:
  /////
  " -i config-file
                Read file as the initialization (slrnrc) file.  The default is to use .slrnrc (or slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory."
  
  "    SLRNHOME
                When interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory, slrn uses this variable to find out what your home directory is.  If $SLRNHOME is unset, $HOME is used instead."
  
  "       $HOME/.slrnrc
                User-specific configuration file."
  /////
  
  When I first started slrn, it said:
  ...
     Reading startup file /etc/news/slrn.rc.
  ...
  
  I then started slrn with the "-i" switch to use the file that was actually in $HOME, and the result was:
  ...
     Reading startup file /etc/news/slrn.rc.
     Reading startup file slrn.rc.
  ...
  
  So now it's trying to read from 2 files? lol
  
  I thought that maybe the use of the file in the root-owned /etc/ dir
  would be an intentional security move, but if the default permissions
  still allow non-root users to read the file, including passwords stored
  in it, then what good is it for security purposes?
  
  Anyway, I just went ahead and started using the file in /etc/news/, and
  there's no problems with that.

** Description changed:

  Binary package hint: slrn
  
  I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 AMD64 Desktop, with slrn 1.0.0~pre2-1.
  
  The man page makes several references to the default dir for slrnrc as
  being HOME, but that wasn't where it was looking.
  
  From the man page:
  /////
  " -i config-file
                Read file as the initialization (slrnrc) file.  The default is to use .slrnrc (or slrn.rc on VMS, OS/2 and Windows) in your home directory."
  
  "    SLRNHOME
                When interpreting filenames as relative to your home directory, slrn uses this variable to find out what your home directory is.  If $SLRNHOME is unset, $HOME is used instead."
  
  "       $HOME/.slrnrc
                User-specific configuration file."
  /////
  
  When I first started slrn, it said:
  ...
     Reading startup file /etc/news/slrn.rc.
  ...
  
  I then started slrn with the "-i" switch to use the file that was actually in $HOME, and the result was:
  ...
     Reading startup file /etc/news/slrn.rc.
     Reading startup file slrn.rc.
  ...
  
  So now it's trying to read from 2 files? lol
  
  I thought that maybe the use of the file in the root-owned /etc/ dir
  would be an intentional security move, but if the default permissions
  still allow non-root users to read the file, including passwords stored
  in it, then what good is it for security purposes?
  
  Anyway, I just went ahead and started using the file in /etc/news/, and
  there's no problems with that.
+ 
+ Edit: I forgot to mention that I tried setting SLRNHOME=$HOME in
+ .bashrc, but that had no effect on where slrn was looking for slrnrc.

-- 
Man page says default fir for slrnrc should be HOME, but it isn't.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/404602
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