Bug 117443 – sys-apps/less default rich processing

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

[Description Tobias Klausmann (RETIRED) 2006-01-02 06:04:31 UTC]

With newer releases of sys-apps/less and sys-apps/baselayout, the default is to set LESSOPEN, which results in rich processing of files. This means for example, that some logfiles of which libmagic (erronously) believes that they are binary are displayed as a hexdump, which is utterly useless. Also, PostScript files are tried to be interpeted in some way, which is unhelpful, too (see example below).

This is the result of setting LESSOPEN in /etc/env.d/00basic. While some may appreciate the comfort of this, it gets in the way of system administration more often than it is helpful. Additionally, an unsuspecting user might want to view an attachment he has gotten only to find out that a (potentially vulnerable) client is used to view it. 

Thus, this behaviour should be *off* by default and a message should be generated on installation that details how to switch it on.

The security impact isn't that great that I'd tag it accordingly, it's mostly a matter of inconvenience.

Example of unwated behaviour:

$ less cal.ps 
Error: /undefined in ch-xoff
Operand stack:
   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   0
Execution stack:
   %interp_exit   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   -
-nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   2   3   %oparray_pop   2   3   %oparray_pop   2   3   %oparray_pop   .runexec2   --nostringval--
   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--
Dictionary stack:
   --dict:1105/1417(ro)(G)--   --dict:0/20(G)--   --dict:72/200(L)--   --dict:94/300(L)--
Current allocation mode is local
Last OS error: 2
Current file position is 4402
$ head cal.ps 
%!PS-Adobe-2.0
%%Creator: dvips(k) 5.86 Copyright 1999 Radical Eye Software
%%Title: cal.dvi
%%Pages: 12
%%PageOrder: Ascend
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 596 842
%%EndComments
%DVIPSWebPage: (www.radicaleye.com)
%DVIPSCommandLine: dvips cal.dvi -o cal.ps
%DVIPSParameters: dpi=600, compressed

[Comment 1 SpanKY 2006-01-02 11:00:12 UTC]

LESSOPEN has *always* been enabled

if you want it off, just do:
# echo 'LESSOPEN=""' > /etc/env.d/99local
# env-update

[Comment 2 Tobias Klausmann (RETIRED) 2006-01-03 05:21:50 UTC]

Well, if it was always enabled, why haven't I ever noticed this behaviour before?! Some goes for a colleague who runs his own machine which I don't even have an account on. I can hardly believe that I never ever triggered this behaviour before (and neither did he). Maybe the permissions of lesspipe.sh changed. What does CVS say wrt changes to env.d/00basic?

[Comment 3 SpanKY 2006-01-03 06:23:19 UTC]

you're assuming the wrong thing

lesspipe.sh itself has increased in terms of features, read the source

[Comment 4 Tobias Klausmann (RETIRED) 2006-01-03 07:21:04 UTC]

Ah, well, that explains it of course. Thanks for your time.

[Comment 5 Jakub Moc (RETIRED) 2007-05-22 16:55:39 UTC]

*** Bug 179411 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***