Package: nullmailer
Version: 1:2.2-3+b1
Severity: normal
Hi,
I began using a revision tracking system for some configfiles. This involved
replacing /etc/nullmailer with a symlink to a directory within the local
working copy.
I noticed that locally generated mail was suddenly referencing literal
"defaulthost".
I tried to create /etc/nullmailer/me with the correct hostname in it, but this
didn't help. I attached strace to cron in an attempt to see what was going on
and found this:
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/etc/nullmailer/me", O_RDONLY) =
3</path-to-working-copy/<...>/etc/nullmailer/me>
read(3</path-to-working-copy/<...>/etc/nullmailer/me>,
"my-correct-hostname-here\n", 4096) = 27
close(3</path-to-working-copy/<...>/etc/nullmailer/me>) = 0
write(2</dev/console<char 5:1>>, "Warning: On Debian systems, nullmailer's 'me'
is disregarded; please use '/etc/mailname' instead.\n", 98) = 98
getuid() = 0
geteuid() = 0
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/etc/nullmailer/../mailname", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No such
file or directory)
So, while nullmailer prints a message instructing me to fill /etc/mailname, it
doesn't actually use /etc/mailname but /etc/nullmailer/../mailname, which
doesn't necessarily exist and isn't necessarily the correct file if
/etc/nullmailer is a symlink.
Also, printing messages to /dev/console isn't terribly useful in the case of
remote headless servers.
I suggest the following changes:
1. in order to avoid violating the principle of least surprise, don't disregard
/etc/nullmailer/me. If it's there, the admin put it there for a reason.
2. if /etc/nullmailer/me doesn't exist, default to "/etc/mailname", not
"/etc/nullmailer/../mailname".
3. if these two changes are made, the message becomes unnecessary and can be a
simple README.Debian item.
4. if you must print a message, log it to syslog instead of (or, if you insist,
in addition to) writing it to /dev/console. However, can't writing to
/dev/console block e.g. due to flow control on the terminal device? If so, I'd
leave /dev/console alone.
Best regards,
András
--
Mishearing the voices in his head, our hero wonders how he's supposed
to kill the mall.
