Bug#240231: tetex-bin: mktextfm fails to create font

[Frank Küster <frank@debian.org>]

Gianluca Della Vedova <gianluca.dellavedova@unimib.it> schrieb:

> Package: tetex-bin
> Version: 2.0.2-10
> Severity: minor
>
> The mktextfm program is unable to create the ecrm1095.tfm font file. It
> is not a permission issue, because the same problem happens even if I
> run the program as root.

Is it really reproducible?

> $mktextfm ecrm1095
>
> mktextfm: Running mf-nowin -progname=mf \mode:=ljfour; mag:=1; nonstopmode; input ecrm1095
> This is METAFONT, Version 2.7182 (Web2C 7.4.5)
> kpathsea: Running mktexmf ecrm1095
> /usr/bin/mktexmf: line 92: mf10901.tmp: Permission denied

line 92 is:

    cat > "mf$$.tmp" <<END

And here we have one of these braindead pseudo-tempfile names used
throughout teTeX (probably because the better solutions aren't
portable?). $$ is substituted by the process ID of the current shell, in
this case 10901, and this is damn insecure.

So far for the ranting. In this case it's even worse because the working
directory is used to create the file. Root should be able to create
files there, however - unless you were on a filesystem that is
read-only. 

> chmod: impossibile leggere gli attributi di `mf10901.tmp': No such file or directory
> mv: impossibile fare stat di `mf10901.tmp': No such file or directory

That's just the followup-errors.

> mktexmf: /var/cache/fonts/source/jknappen/ec/ecrm1095.mf: successfully generated.

Ahem. The script should probably check that before saying such things.

In Summary:

- Thanks for pointing us at this bug. I'll contemplate fixing it
  (although upstream should)

- Can you reproduce that it also occurs as root, and that you are not on
  a read-only filesystem?

Regards, Frank
-- 
Frank Küster, Biozentrum der Univ. Basel
Abt. Biophysikalische Chemie