Re: Pls help fixing /boot/efi and GRUB

[Nicolas George <george@nsup.org>]

Greg Wooledge (HE12025-03-26):
> This caused ALL KINDS of problems.  People would do things like:
> 
>     $ su
>     # apt update
>     # apt install somepkg
> 
> And the postinstall script for somepkg would fail because it couldn't
> find commands that are in /sbin or /usr/sbin, because those directories
> which should have been in PATH, which *had* been in PATH for the last
> 20 years, were suddenly not there.

That, I would argue, is a flaw in apt: it should have set the path to a
known valid one, possibly even excluding /usr/local/bin in case
incompatible commands are in it.

>     $ su -
>     # make install
> 
> Whoopsie!

Oh, even:

	$ su
	# make install

Whoopsie! The Makefile just pwned you. Or the non-hostile Makefile just
overwrote some files you had not yet saved. People who run make install
with extended privileges deserve what they get. Much safer to do:

	$ make DESTDIR=/tmp/i install
	$ sudo cp -r /tmp/i/blabla /blabla

Will not work if what is installed there requires unusual file
permissions, but in that case it is better to review everything anyway.
Using fakeroot + tar is an option.

> My recommendation is to create a one-line configuration file:

My recommendation is to learn to use sudo itself rather than trying to
emulate su. Having the privileged commands logged is a good idea. Using
privileges only with commands that need it is a good idea. Having the
same shell history for those is convenient.

Regards,

-- 
  Nicolas George