[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Bug#765499: Policy still thinks UIDs are 32-bit



Hi,

Ben Harris <bjh21@cam.ac.uk> writes:

> Policy 9.2.2 lists ranges of UIDs and GIDs and what they're used for
> in Debian.  However, it limits itself to UIDs and GIDs below 65536.
> As far as I can tell, on a modern Debian GNU/Linux i386 system UIDs
> and GIDs are unsigned 32-bit integers.  In consequence, Policy leaves
> the status of UIDs above 65535 undefined, and mis-states the value of
> (uid_t)(-1).
> 
> I'd suggest that at a minimum this section should be updated to (a)
> explicitly reserve the range from 65536 to 4294967294 inclusive for
> end-users, (b) reserve 4294967295 as the 32-bit (uid_t)(-1), and (c)
> note that 65535 is still reserved for compatibility with systems with
> 16-bit UIDs.

Ben reported this issue in October, and we tripped over it again
today. Is his proposed approach sensible? If so, could it make it into
a policy update, do you think?

Regards,

Matthew

-- 
"At least you know where you are with Microsoft."
"True. I just wish I'd brought a paddle."
http://www.debian.org


Reply to: