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Date:      Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:04:40 -0600
From:      "Jeremy Messenger" <mezz7@cox.net>
To:        "Stefan Sperling" <stsp@stsp.name>
Cc:        ports@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: [PATCH] portmaster with SU_CMD
Message-ID:  <op.t1o3d2kv9aq2h7@mezz.mezzweb.com>
In-Reply-To: <20071112185825.GA639@jack.stsp.lan>
References:  <20071111155343.GC1567@ted.stsp.lan> <alpine.BSF.0.99999.0711111451130.20729@ync.qbhto.arg> <op.t1otmt1b9aq2h7@mezz.mezzweb.com> <20071112153142.a5166671.rnsanchez@wait4.org> <20071112185825.GA639@jack.stsp.lan>

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On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:58:25 -0600, Stefan Sperling <stsp@stsp.name> wro=
te:

> Hi all,
>
> I haven't got all the mails in this thread so far because I
> haven't been subscribed to ports@ in a while.
> I'll try to reply to what I've read in the archives so far.
>
> I'm subscribed again now so I will get followups from here on
> without people having to Cc me.
>
> On Mon, Nov 12, 2007 at 03:31:42PM -0200, Ricardo Nabinger Sanchez wro=
te:
>> On Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:33:55 -0600
>> "Jeremy Messenger" <mezz7@cox.net> wrote:
>>
>> > I agree, because you can't build any ports in /usr/ports as in norm=
al
>> > user anyway.
>
> Nonesense. I described one particular way of doing it in the
> mail that started this thread.
>
>> > I don't see any good reason to do it either.
> There's tons of good reasons for doing it. For example, my reason
> is that I don't see a point in running something as root that does not=

> need root, especially if execution of arbitrary commands is involved.

I don't count this as a good reason, since there is no reason to do it i=
n  =

complicate way for portmaster. The portmaster required root for install,=
  =

so why not just login as in root and run portmaster?

> This can always lead to problems. I'd rather not have some bug
> in some build or configure script mess with arbitrary stuff in
> my filesystems.

You do have a good point but I have yet to see configure/build will mess=
  =

up the filesystem, which installation will. I have seen the installation=
  =

will poke (not edit files, but install files in the wrong place) around =
in  =

/ filesystem a few of times. Kind of no difference.

>> Yes you can.
>> You just need to set WRKDIRPREFIX in your /etc/make.conf,
>> to "/tmp" for instance.  I've been doing that happily for some years =
 =

>> now.
>
> There's literally tons of ways of doing it.
>
>> > No, not by default and I have pointed 'in /usr/ports'.
>
> Arguing that building ports as root is the default behaviour
> in FreeBSD is no argument at all against the patch, because
> the patch does not change this default behaviour.
>
> It just adds an option that makes portmaster work nicely with
> another option that is already provided by FreeBSD, namely
> setting SU_CMD in /etc/make.conf.
>
> The same option is provided in NetBSD's pkgsrc and OpenBSD's
> ports, by the way. It's not that exotic.
>
> But:
>
> I respect Doug's caution, because the patch isn't small.
> It took me a while to get it working right on my system.
>
> It could have side effects no one knows about -- AFAIK it's only
> been tested on a single system yet (mine), with only a single
> way of "building ports as non-root" while there's many more
> systems out there that are all set up differently.
>
> So I guess it would help if people who want this feature simply
> test the patch for a while and then report whether it works for
> them or not.
>
> And people who don't want the patch test it with their standard
> procedure to see if it messes things up for them or not.
>
> Just saying that you want it or don't want it without testing
> whether it actually works or breaks anything for you won't help
> Doug make the decision whether to adopt this patch or not.
>
> He needs proper feedback to make an informed decision.

Exactly what I am doing with no shame. :-) I had to jump in to push peop=
le  =

to give a very good reason other than 'me too'. I have yet to see a very=
  =

good reason other than 'just because I want to'. It looks like it works.=
  =

;-)

Cheers,
Mezz

> I need proper feedback to fix any issues that might come up
> for other people using this patch.
>
> So if you have the time, please test it, no matter if you
> want to use the -S flag or not.
>
> Here's my own take again:
>
> I have been using the patch in its current form for 2 or 3 weeks
> during which I updated ports about three or four times.
> I haven't noticed any regressions so far. In my already described
> setup it even made it through the big gnome-2.18->2.20 update
> without any issues, except for one issue unrelated to portmaster
> which has already been filed.
> See http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=3Dports/117976
>
> I also found an issue in devel/ncurses while testing the patch,
> not related to portmaster either, but to the port not heeding
> WRKDIRPREFIX correctly. This bug has since been fixed:
> http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=3Dports/117643


-- =

mezz7@cox.net  -  mezz@FreeBSD.org
FreeBSD GNOME Team  -  FreeBSD Multimedia Hat (ports, not src)
http://www.FreeBSD.org/gnome/  -  gnome@FreeBSD.org
http://wiki.freebsd.org/multimedia  -  multimedia@FreeBSD.org



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