Subject: Re: pkg_delete "Executing" output
To: Jeremy C. Reed <reed@reedmedia.net>
From: Alistair Crooks <agc@pkgsrc.org>
List: tech-pkg
Date: 02/09/2005 14:46:52
On Tue, Feb 08, 2005 at 12:23:11PM -0800, Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> pkg_delete was changed to output "Executing" lines from rmdir, etc.
> 
> This can make for a lot of output, such as updating perl which has at
> least a couple screen fulls scroll by.
> 
> Can we have the "Executing" lines be optional based on the Verbose switch?

They used to be based on the verbose switch.  I modified it so that
they weren't.

The reason for this is one of security.  For almost all users, these
commands are run as the root user; the commands are taken from a file
in the filesystem hierarchy (which is not itself checksummed).  From a
security POV, I want to know what commands are being run, even if you
don't want to, because files can be modified, made to point to
additional scripts, etc.

FYI, this was a fix that was requested a number of years ago by the
NetBSD security officer, and I have only just got around to fixing it.

I wouldn't be averse to adding a -q switch (for quiet), but
(a) I'm afraid that you'll have to do it yourself, and
(b) it's not going to be the default

Regards,
Alistair