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I've just installed DEBIAN today and installed XXXXX application.

This application create ~/.XXXXX/ folder configuration.

I find that the ~/.XXXXX folder is owned by root. Applying any change for instance, then closing and reopening XXXXX, should reflect the applied change. However, any channel or setting change is forgotten immediately.

A simple chown command solves all.

I was a little confused to start with when I couldn't save my settings... but a little digging shows the problem. It's a little annoying, and the only additional application I've installed so far which behaves this way, which kinda singles it out.

Because this application not have maintainer, I want to resolve this problem for another users.

I beleve that the proble is in debian/postinst file:

set -e

setuid () {
    db_get XXXXX/setuid
    if [ -x /usr/bin/XXXXX ] && [ "$RET" = "false" ] ; then
    if [ ! -x /usr/sbin/dpkg-statoverride ] ||\
        ! /usr/sbin/dpkg-statoverride --list /usr/bin/XXXXX >/dev/null; then
        chown root:root /usr/bin/XXXXX
        chmod u=rwx,go=rx /usr/bin/XXXXX
    fi
    else
    if [ ! -x /usr/sbin/dpkg-statoverride ] || \
        ! /usr/sbin/dpkg-statoverride --list /usr/bin/XXXXX >/dev/null; then
        chown root:root /usr/bin/XXXXX
        chmod u=rwxs,go=rx /usr/bin/XXXXX
    fi
   fi
}

# Parse the option requested from XXXXX-configure
get_option () {
    OPTION=`XXXXX-configure --$1 2>/dev/null | awk -F: '{ print \$2 }'`
}

suck_XXXXX_xml () {
    # If XXXXX-configure was not there at Debconf, but
    # /etc/XXXXX/XXXXX.xml was, then we presume that the
    # administrator knew what he was doing.  We will therefore suck
    # this information into the Debconf database now that
    # XXXXX-configure is installed.
    if [ -f /etc/XXXXX/debconf.XXXXX.xml ]; then
    get_option norm
    db_set XXXXX/norm "$OPTION"

    get_option frequencies
    db_set XXXXX/frequencies-ntsc "$OPTION"
    db_set XXXXX/frequencies-jp "$OPTION"
    db_set XXXXX/frequencies-pal "$OPTION"

    get_option device
    db_set XXXXX/v4ldevice "$OPTION"

    get_option vbidevice
    db_set XXXXX/vbidevice "$OPTION"

    get_option priority
    db_set XXXXX/processpriority "$OPTION"
    fi
}

### MAIN POSTINST ###
case "$1" in
    configure)
    # Load Debconf library
    . /usr/share/debconf/confmodule

    # Handle the setuid bit.
    setuid

    # Load /etc/XXXXX/XXXXX.xml into Debconf, if necessary
    suck_XXXXX_xml

    # Try to set the /var/run/XXXXX directory to video group
    if [ -d /var/run/XXXXX ] ; then
        if [ ! -x /usr/sbin/dpkg-statoverride ] || \
        ! /usr/sbin/dpkg-statoverride --list /var/run/XXXXX >/dev/null; then
        chmod ug=rwx,o=rxt /var/run/XXXXX
        chown root:video /var/run/XXXXX
        fi
    fi

    CONFIGFILE=/etc/XXXXX/XXXXX.xml

    db_get XXXXX/norm
    NORM=$RET
    case "$NORM" in
        NTSC|PAL-M|PAL-Nc)
        db_get XXXXX/frequencies-ntsc
        case "$RET" in
            Cable) FREQTABLE=us-cable ;;
            Broadcast) FREQTABLE=us-broadcast ;;
            *) FREQTABLE=us-cable100 ;;
        esac
        ;;
        NTSC-JP)
        db_get XXXXX/frequencies-jp
        case "$RET" in
        Cable) FREQTABLE=japan-cable ;;
        *) FREQTABLE=japan-broadcast ;;
    esac
    ;;
    PAL|PAL-60|PAL-N|SECAM)
    db_get XXXXX/frequencies-pal
    case "$RET" in
        Europe) FREQTABLE=europe ;;
        France) FREQTABLE=france ;;
        Russia) FREQTABLE=russia ;;
        Australia) FREQTABLE=australia ;;
        "New Zealand") FREQTABLE=newzealand ;;
        "China Broadcast") FREQTABLE=china-broadcast ;;
        "Australia Optus cable") FREQTABLE=australia-optus ;;
        *) FREQTABLE=custom ;;
    esac
    ;;
    *)
    FREQTABLE=custom
    ;;
esac

db_get XXXXX/v4ldevice
V4LDEV=$RET
db_get XXXXX/vbidevice
VBIDEV=$RET
db_get XXXXX/processpriority
PRI=$RET

db_stop

# Create the configuration file if it doesn't exist
if [ ! -f $CONFIGFILE ]; then
    cp /usr/share/doc/XXXXX/examples/default.XXXXX.xml $CONFIGFILE
fi

# Configure XXXXX.
XXXXX-configure --configfile="$CONFIGFILE" --norm="$NORM" \
    --frequencies="$FREQTABLE" --device="$V4LDEV" \
    --vbidevice="$VBIDEV" --priority="$PRI" 2>/dev/null

;;
abort-upgrade|abort-remove|abort-deconfigure)

;;
*)
echo "postinst called with unknown argument \`$1'" >&2
exit 1
;;
esac

Any help is welcome, Regards.

From app code

int mkdir_and_force_owner( const char *path, uid_t uid, gid_t gid )
{
    if( mkdir( path, S_IRWXU ) < 0 ) {
        if( errno != EEXIST ) {
            lfprintf( stderr, _("Cannot create %s: %s\n"),
                      path, strerror( errno ) );
        } else {
            /* It exists, make sure it's a directory. */
            DIR *temp_dir = opendir( path );
            if( !path ) {
                lfprintf( stderr, _("Cannot open %s: %s\n"), 
                          path, strerror( errno ) );
            } else {
                closedir( temp_dir );
                return 1;
            }
        }
     } else {
        /* We created the directory, now force it to be owned by the user. */
        if( chown( path, uid, gid ) < 0 ) {
            lfprintf( stderr, _("Cannot change owner of %s: %s.\n"),
                     path, strerror( errno ) );
        } else {
            return 1;
        }
    }

    return 0;
}

ct->uid = getuid();
/* Make the ~/.XXXXX directory every time on startup, to be safe. */
if( asprintf( &temp_dirname, "%s/.XXXXX", getenv( "HOME" ) ) < 0 ) {
    /* FIXME: Clean up ?? */
    return 0;
}
mkdir_and_force_owner( temp_dirname, ct->uid, getgid() );
free( temp_dirname );

This is main app with create initial directory in home. Drop root privileges as early as possible. Only re-enable them to get access to the real-time scheduler. This not work in debian.

int main( int argc, char **argv )
{
rtctimer_t *rtctimer = 0;
int read_stdin = 1;
int result = 0;
int realtime = 0;
uid_t priv_uid = geteuid();
uid_t user_uid = getuid();

/*
 * Temporarily drop down to user-level access, so that files aren't
 * created setuid root.
 */
if( seteuid( user_uid ) == -1 ) {
    lfprintf( stderr, _("\n"
"    Failed to drop root privileges: %s.\n"
"    motv will now exit to avoid security problems.\n\n"),
        strerror( errno ) );
    return 1;
}

setup_i18n();

setup_utf8();

lfprintf( stderr, _("Running %s.\n"), PACKAGE_STRING );

/* Steal system resources in the name of performance. */
/* Get maximum priority before dropping root privileges. We'll drop back */
/* to the value specified in the config file (or the default) later. */
seteuid( priv_uid );
setpriority( PRIO_PROCESS, 0, -19 );
if( set_realtime_priority( 0 ) ) {
    realtime = 1;
}

rtctimer = rtctimer_new( 0 );

if( rtctimer ) {
    if( !rtctimer_set_interval( rtctimer, 1024 ) &&
        !rtctimer_set_interval( rtctimer, 64 ) ) {
        rtctimer_delete( rtctimer );
        rtctimer = 0;
    } else {
        rtctimer_start_clock( rtctimer );
        if( rtctimer_get_resolution( rtctimer ) < 1024 ) {
            rtctimer_delete( rtctimer );
            rtctimer = 0;
        }
    }
}


/* We've now stolen all our root-requiring resources, drop to a user. */
if( setuid( user_uid ) == -1 ) {
    /*
     * This used to say "Unknown problems", but we're printing an
     * error string, so that didn't really make sense, did it?
     */
    lfprintf( stderr, _("\n"
"    Failed to drop root privileges: %s.\n"
"    motv will now exit to avoid security problems.\n\n"),
        strerror( errno ) );
    return 1;
}


/* Ditch stdin early. */
if( isatty( STDIN_FILENO ) ) {
    read_stdin = 0;
    close( STDIN_FILENO );
}

/* Run motv. */
for(;;) {
    if( result == 2 ) {
        char *new_argv[ 2 ];

        new_argv[ 0 ] = "motv";
        new_argv[ 1 ] = 0;

        result = motv_main( rtctimer, read_stdin, realtime, 0, new_argv );
    } else {
        result = motv_main( rtctimer, read_stdin, realtime, argc, argv );
    }

    if( result != 2 ) break;
}

if( rtctimer ) {
    rtctimer_delete( rtctimer );
}

return result;
}
the paul
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iattila
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  • It doesn't look like anything in this script is what's creating the ~/.XXXXX (is that really what this package is called?) file/directory. Usually these directories are created for a user when they first run the application in question. –  Mar 23 '12 at 17:34
  • What application is it? The postinst isn't touching anything in ~ (correctly), but it looks like it is installing the binary setuid root, so the bug probably lies with the application itself. (The problem ought to be fixable by simple groups + udev rules) – Flexo Mar 23 '12 at 17:34
  • awoodland - I put here main app. If you you think you can help me would be fantastic. Thanks. – iattila Mar 23 '12 at 19:13

1 Answers1

0

The problem is not created by the debian package postinst script because it never creates the ~/.XXXXX directory.

Check the values of ct->uid and getgid() when you call mkdir_and_force_owner(): that function is not called on your main() so I cannot read how you are calling it.

You have to be sure that they are not 0 and 0: print the values for debug. In this case the function will create and chown() the dir root:root; BTW you are running the software as root due to the setuid bit, otherwise you couldn't chown() your configuration dir.

dAm2K
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