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Bug 537162 - dev-haskell/cabal-install should use TLS to download packages
Summary: dev-haskell/cabal-install should use TLS to download packages
Status: CONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: Gentoo Linux
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Current packages (show other bugs)
Hardware: All Linux
: Normal normal
Assignee: Gentoo's Haskell Language team
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2015-01-20 19:25 UTC by R030t1
Modified: 2020-02-13 14:37 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Package list:
Runtime testing required: ---


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Description R030t1 2015-01-20 19:25:26 UTC
https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/936

Suggest that package be masked as a warning to potential users.
Comment 1 Sergei Trofimovich (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2015-01-20 22:01:38 UTC
> dev-haskell/cabal-install does not use TLS to download packages
For what it's worth it's true.

> Suggest that package be masked as a warning to potential users.
I'd say it's not practical unless there is cabal-install which is
able to https://.
Comment 2 8573dd 2015-01-20 23:11:33 UTC
I would welcome such a mask. I for one would not have installed cabal-install had I known of this.
Comment 3 R030t1 2015-01-20 23:42:59 UTC
(In reply to Sergei Trofimovich from comment #1)
> > dev-haskell/cabal-install does not use TLS to download packages
> For what it's worth it's true.
> 
> > Suggest that package be masked as a warning to potential users.
> I'd say it's not practical unless there is cabal-install which is
> able to https://.

That's my point: there's no way for cabal-install to use TLS. The mask would be so users can make an informed decision as to whether to continue to use it. As it stands there might be people using it under the assumption it is secure.
Comment 4 Michael Orlitzky gentoo-dev 2015-01-21 00:02:25 UTC
(In reply to R030t1 from comment #3)
> 
> That's my point: there's no way for cabal-install to use TLS. The mask would
> be so users can make an informed decision as to whether to continue to use
> it. As it stands there might be people using it under the assumption it is
> secure.

Uploads to Hackage aren't even secure, so the lack of a secure download method doesn't lose you much at the moment. This is a well-known bug in the Haskell ecosystem:

  https://www.haskell.org/pipermail/cabal-devel/2014-April/009739.html

We have some practical reasons of our own. Like for example that the Haskell Platform depends on the cabal-install package.

And, you're not supposed to use cabal-install to install packages anyway. Almost anything you can think of is in the overlay, and we're usually pretty quick to  add new packages if you open an issue at https://github.com/gentoo-haskell/gentoo-haskell/issues.
Comment 5 R030t1 2015-01-21 01:04:12 UTC
> Uploads to Hackage aren't even secure, so the lack of a secure download
> method doesn't lose you much at the moment. This is a well-known bug in the
> Haskell ecosystem:
> 
>   https://www.haskell.org/pipermail/cabal-devel/2014-April/009739.html
>

Yes, this is also something that is touched upon in the bug I referenced and is also something that potential users should be made aware of. 

> We have some practical reasons of our own. Like for example that the Haskell
> Platform depends on the cabal-install package.
> 

Then the "Haskell Platform" would end up being uninstallable due to the mask on cabal-install until the mask was removed by the user.

> And, you're not supposed to use cabal-install to install packages anyway.
> Almost anything you can think of is in the overlay, and we're usually pretty
> quick to  add new packages if you open an issue at
> https://github.com/gentoo-haskell/gentoo-haskell/issues.
>

I wasn't aware; a mask on cabal-install could have made me aware. I noticed some libraries were in portage but a great many are not - one's first instinct is to turn to the language's package manager.
Comment 6 Michael Orlitzky gentoo-dev 2015-01-21 17:53:52 UTC
(In reply to R030t1 from comment #5)
> > Uploads to Hackage aren't even secure, so the lack of a secure download
> > method doesn't lose you much at the moment. This is a well-known bug in the
> > Haskell ecosystem:
> > 
> >   https://www.haskell.org/pipermail/cabal-devel/2014-April/009739.html
> >
> 
> Yes, this is also something that is touched upon in the bug I referenced and
> is also something that potential users should be made aware of. 
> 
> > We have some practical reasons of our own. Like for example that the Haskell
> > Platform depends on the cabal-install package.
> > 
> 
> Then the "Haskell Platform" would end up being uninstallable due to the mask
> on cabal-install until the mask was removed by the user.
> 

I just think that's a bit extreme for this sort of issue. Will we be masking Firefox and Chrome as well?

I'm not saying we should close it -- we can update this whenever some progress is made upstream. But I'm pleading "not it" to masking one of the more important platform utilities. I don't use it to install packages, but `cabal repl` and things like that come along with `cabal install`.


> > And, you're not supposed to use cabal-install to install packages anyway.
> > Almost anything you can think of is in the overlay, and we're usually pretty
> > quick to  add new packages if you open an issue at
> > https://github.com/gentoo-haskell/gentoo-haskell/issues.
> >
> 
> I wasn't aware; a mask on cabal-install could have made me aware. I noticed
> some libraries were in portage but a great many are not - one's first
> instinct is to turn to the language's package manager.

This is IMO a much better reason to mask cabal-install =)
Comment 7 Kristian Fiskerstrand (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2015-01-21 18:07:58 UTC
My two cents;
The suggested action is security hardening and not applicable for the Gentoo Security team as the use would be outside the ordinary expected use of the tree. There is no immediate vulnerability that would require a GLSA and the package is only stable for two arches; ppc and ppc64. 

Should we re-assign this to the haskell herd?
Comment 8 Sergei Trofimovich (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2015-01-21 21:44:38 UTC
(In reply to Kristian Fiskerstrand from comment #7)
> Should we re-assign this to the haskell herd?

Yeah, haskell@ is a proper place for it.
Comment 9 Sergei Trofimovich (RETIRED) gentoo-dev 2016-05-21 20:37:09 UTC
Recently released Cabal-1.24 / cabal-install-1.24
got basic support for https:// URI.

Masked ebuilds are currently available in ::haskell overlay but
it will take a while upstreams to port their Setup.hs to Cabal-1.24.