Re: [lintian] app-defaults mode 444
On Sun, 15 Feb 1998 fpolacco@icenet.fi wrote:
> I just started to look at all the things that lintian reported about my
> packages (thanx!) and I noticed:
>
> W: groff: non-standard-file-perm usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/GXditview 0444
>
> I noticed than that quite _all_ the files in that dir (on my hamm
> system) are mode 444 (instead of 644) with few exceptions.
>
> Policy says (4.6):
>
> *Application defaults* files have to be installed in the
> directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/'. They are
> considered as part of the program code. Thus, they should not be
> modified and should not be tagged as *conffile*. If the local
> system administrator wants to customise X applications globally,
> the file `/etc/X11/Xresources' should be used.
>
> Therefore I think that it is better to leave them mode 444 so a user
> (educated by Slackware) will find little more difficult to modify them
> (mode 444 should make him think that that file shouldn't be modifyed)
I don't think that this is a good solution. (The user would have to be
root anyways, to edit these files, but root can also edit 444 files very
easily.)
> But this should be carved in policy (before being implemented in
> lintian):
>
> *Application defaults* files have to be installed in the
> directory `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/'. They are
> considered as part of the program code. Thus, they should not be
> modified (they are installed not-writable) and should not be
> tagged as *conffile*. If the local system administrator wants
> to customise X applications globally, the file
> `/etc/X11/Xresources' should be used.
>
> I also suggest that some relevant package (base-files?) installs a
> README in that directory quoting this part of the policy, just as a
> quick reference to all those users that "thinks" app-defaults files
> are the right place for site-changes.
The file /usr/doc/X11/debian.README already mentions:
`Please note that this distribution expects you to leave app-defaults
files unchanged. If you want to customise X applications globally, put
your customisations in /etc/X11/Xresources.'
Thanks,
Chris
-- Christian Schwarz
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