Re: Bug#122038: use of /var/backups is apparently undocumented
reassign 122038 debian-policy
retitle 122038 Use of /var/backups is apparently undocumented
thanks
[ Sorry for taking so long to do this reassign ].
On Sat, 1 Dec 2001, Lee Maguire wrote:
> Package: base-files
> Version: 3.0
> Severity: minor
>
> debian's use of /var/backups is apparently undocumented
>
> $ dpkg -S /var/backups
> base-files: /var/backups
>
> The directory /var/backups is included in the package base-files.
>
> Debian policy makes no reference to this directory. /var/backups is
> mentioned in the FHS but only in the context that it may be
> "historical and/or local practice".
>
> Since /var/backups is used by standard packages such as netbase and cron
> the suggestion is that the directory is not exclusively intended for local
> admin use. But, since it's not part of the FHS, there's no indication
> whether use of this directory is "legacy" and therefore discouraged or
> encouraged.
>
> It's not completely clear what the intended use of this directory is
> (except related to back-ups, natch.) Current use is currently not
> restricted to, say, user-edited configuration files.
>
> $ grep backups /usr/share/base-passwd/passwd.master
> backup:*:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/bin/sh
>
> The package base-passwd references the directory as the home directory
> for the user "backup" suggesting that the directory is intended for
> use by a process running as that user, but by default "backups" has
> no permission to write to /var/backups .
The implicit policy we seem to be following about /var/backups is that
packages are allowed to use it for backups of certain important files
(since some packages actually do backups there).
Additionaly, if you want the user `backup' to do backups on their own
then you can change the permissions of the directory, and dpkg will
preserve the new permissions on upgrades.
I agree that the FHS standard should be more clear about this, so I'm
reassigning this report to debian-policy, which is the package
containing the FHS standard.
I will be happy to implement a change in the default permissions for
this directory if it's the consensus of the policy group (but in my
opinion, the current permissions are ok).
Thanks.
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