Frank Küster wrote: > [Summary for the buildd people: We still need your help] > > Steve Langasek <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > But if the package build requires access to $HOME/.texmf-var, that's still a > > bug that should be fixed; > > No it doesn't require that. Only if there is a $HOME directory, and it > is writable, then it is used. Otherwise /tmp/texfonts is used > instead. > > > Anyway, here's how I *am* able to reproduce the bug: > > No, that's not the same bug. > > > sudo mkdir -p /tmp/texfonts/source/jknappen/ec > > sudo mkdir -p /tmp/texfonts/tfm/jknappen/ec > > make -C docs/psdoc > > > > So somewhere, there is a very, very wrong assumption that it's ok to use a > > fixed, user-invariant path under /tmp for writing out fonts. > > I do not think that this is a bug, and anyway it's unrelated to the > FTBFS problem. Previously fonts were created below /var, but this was > regarded as a security risk because users would be able to completely > fill up /var. Now the font cache is in the users' directories, and only > as a fallback it is in /tmp/texfonts.
So, if I understand that correctly, the bug was fixed by running mktexmf as non-root, and the change of the cache location is only a collateral. > This was particularly designed > for machines like buildds, where $HOME might be nonexistent or > unwritable. I think it was even discussed on -devel, but maybe not the > details. Why should it be more wrong to use a user-invariant path in > /tmp than a user-invariant path in /var? Because /var isn't a free-for-all scratch space like /tmp. > Note that we cannot use > directories created with mktemp or so, because it's not possible to pass > on the directory name from the process that creates the dir, to the one > that creates the font and to the one that uses it. > > If the admin chooses to create an empty /tmp/texfonts hierarchy without > write access for users that need the font cache, that's equivalent to > him creating an empty /var/cache/fonts/... without users having write > access, in the old setup. You're allowed to shoot yourself into the > foot. AFAIU any user on the system could create /tmp/texfonts and break mktexmf that way. Thiemo
