Adduser devel - Nov 2006 - Bug#399992: adduser: misleading warning message

Package: adduser
Version: 3.99
Severity: minor


When calling e.g.

adduser --no-create-home --home /afs/path/to/home --uid 40003 johndoe

adduser gives me the warning message:

Warning: The home dir you specified does not exist.

This is wrong in my case. The specified directory DOES exists, but the 
root user does not have access to its parent dir, as opposed to normal 
users with sufficient AFS access permissions.

I suggest to add a check to adduser whether it can access the parent 
dir, and if not, output a different warning message, such as

Warning: Unable to access parent directory of specified home dir.

Thank you!


Best regards,
Alexander

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, ''unstable'')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.19-rc5-mm1
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages adduser depends on:
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]       1.5.9        Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                      1:4.0.18.1-5 change and administer password and
ii  perl-base                   5.8.8-6.1    The Pathologically Eclectic Rubbis

adduser recommends no packages.

-- debconf information:
* adduser/homedir-permission: true

On Thu, Nov 23, 2006 at 11:30:03AM +0100, Alexander Klauer
wrote:
> When calling e.g.
> 
> adduser --no-create-home --home /afs/path/to/home --uid 40003 johndoe
> 
> adduser gives me the warning message:
> 
> Warning: The home dir you specified does not exist.
> 
> This is wrong in my case. The specified directory DOES exists, but the 
> root user does not have access to its parent dir, as opposed to normal 
> users with sufficient AFS access permissions.
> 
> I suggest to add a check to adduser whether it can access the parent 
> dir, and if not, output a different warning message, such as
> 
> Warning: Unable to access parent directory of specified home dir.
I''d prefer changing the error message to "Warning: The home dir
you
specified cannot be accessed", with "dir does not exist" being a
special case (a not existing directory is inaccessible).

This change will have to wait until post-etch due to translations.

Greetings from K?fertal
Marc

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc Haber         | "I don''t trust Computers. They | Mailadresse
im Header
Mannheim, Germany  |  lose things."    Winona Ryder | Fon: *49 621 72739834
Nordisch by Nature |  How to make an American Quilt | Fax: *49 621 72739835

Hi Marc,


Am Donnerstag 23 November 2006 11:48 schrieb Marc Haber:
> I''d prefer changing the error message to "Warning: The home
dir you
> specified cannot be accessed", with "dir does not exist"
being a
> special case (a not existing directory is inaccessible).
Fine. Thank you!
> Greetings from K?fertal
:)


Have a nice day!
Alexander

This one time, at band camp, Alexander Klauer said:
> Am Donnerstag 23 November 2006 11:48 schrieb Marc Haber:
> > I''d prefer changing the error message to "Warning: The
home dir you
> > specified cannot be accessed", with "dir does not
exist" being a
> > special case (a not existing directory is inaccessible).
> 
> Fine. Thank you!
I have changed it in svn, but do not want to upload yet, so as not to
change strings during the freeze.  The new error message will say:
Warning: The home dir you specified cannot be accessed: 
followed by the reason (does not exist, not a directory, can''t access,
etc).

Take care,
-- 
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
|   ,''''`.                                            Stephen
Gran |
|  : :'' :                                        sgran@debian.org |
|  `. `''                        Debian user, admin, and developer |
|    `-                                     http://www.debian.org |
 -----------------------------------------------------------------
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Your message dated Mon, 09 Jul 2007 23:17:02 +0000
with message-id <E1I82TW-0003Uh-K6 at ries.debian.org>
and subject line Bug#399992: fixed in adduser 3.104
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.

This means that you claim that the problem has been dealt with.
If this is not the case it is now your responsibility to reopen the
Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.

(NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what I am
talking about this indicates a serious mail system misconfiguration
somewhere.  Please contact me immediately.)

Debian bug tracking system administrator
(administrator, Debian Bugs database)

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