Date: Thu, 29 Jun 2000 10:15:43 -0700 From: Doug Barton <DougB@gorean.org> To: Sheldon Hearn <sheldonh@uunet.co.za> Cc: arch@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: mergemaster: Change in description of envar handling Message-ID: <395B843F.6274C58D@gorean.org> References: <40523.962297772@axl.ops.uunet.co.za>
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Sheldon Hearn wrote:
>
> On Thu, 29 Jun 2000 09:44:34 MST, Doug Barton wrote:
>
> > No. I already conceded part of this point a while back when I
> > developed the .mergemasterrc mechanism so that people could specify
> > their own PATH (among other things), so there is already a way out of
> > this for those who are not interested in specifying the full path to
> > their PAGER.
>
> I have two things here that I'd like to mention. Firstly, this isn't
> about concessions.
Of course it is. If I wanted to do it the way you are suggesting, I
would have done it already. Additionally, I have already stated
specifically on more than one occasion that I do not want to do what you
want for specific reasons, therefore you are asking me to make a
concession. I don't mind that you're asking, but let's call a spade a
spade.
> I'm objecting to a lie:
>
> > > *** Your PAGER environment variable specifies 'less', but
> > > I cannot execute it.
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Whether a lie or a partial truth,
It's neither, it's the absolute truth. What might be helpful is an
expansion of that message to include more details about why it's true. I
will work on that tonight. It should be easy enough to do that, and
update for less being in the base as well.
> The second thing I want to mention is that building your own personal
> philosophy on good practice into the utility puts it at odds with the
> rest of the system.
I've already argued this point ad nauseum. Because of what mergemaster
does, the restrictive path is entirely appropriate. The fact that using
the full path to a program specified in an environment variable is
better from a security standpoint is not simply my opinion, and quite
frankly, I don't really care that I'm "at odds with the rest of the
system." As I mentioned, the person running mergemaster already has the
option of (potentially) shooting themselves in the foot with the PATH
variable, so if that message _really_ bothers them, they can fix it so
that they never see it.
> I'm suggesting that, instead of butting heads over what's right and
> what's not, we just fix what mergemaster says about your policy
> decision.
So you don't want to argue the merits, you just want me to do what you
want me to do?
--
"Live free or die"
- State motto of my ancestral homeland, New Hampshire
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