Bug 417263 – sys-apps/busybox[make-symlinks] should not overwrite existing files

• Product: Gentoo Linux
• Status: RESOLVED FIXED

[Description Maksim 'max_posedon' Melnikau 2012-05-23 12:30:35 UTC]

For small/embedded systems busybox can be used as big part of the system (USE="make-symlinks"), but sometimes its important to have regular tools (kbd/util-linux/shadow/etc). In this case updating busybox's symlinks overwrite important parts of the system.

I suggest use tar "keep-old-files" mode for creating symlinks (tar -k)

Reproducible: Always

[Comment 1 Maksim 'max_posedon' Melnikau 2012-06-24 22:31:02 UTC]

Created attachment 316189 [details, diff]
cp -n (--no-clobber) is not destructive

This patch makes ebuild less destructive, in cases when you want use busybox for most, but not all system components.

[Comment 2 SpanKY 2012-06-28 04:01:46 UTC]

Comment on attachment 316189 [details, diff]
cp -n (--no-clobber) is not destructive

i don't think that'll work as that flag isn't in POSIX :/

http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/cp.html

[Comment 3 Chris Slycord 2020-02-09 04:44:43 UTC]

Created attachment 612890 [details, diff]
force cp to be nondestructive

Posix compliant workaround for non-destructive cp

[Comment 4 Raffaello D. Di Napoli 2020-11-29 06:00:47 UTC]

Created attachment 675667 [details, diff]
Make USE=make-symlinks safer

Here’s another approach: only install an applet symlink if that name cannot be found in the usual /usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin .

This guarantees the user can’t screw their system up, because it prevents a BB applet from both overwriting and hiding the “full” program (by installing a symlink in a different directory).

[Comment 5 Larry the Git Cow 2021-08-16 16:36:11 UTC]

The bug has been closed via the following commit(s):

https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/?id=50b3efe86028e0e7d184d3a5c4a36c11f3388b6f

commit 50b3efe86028e0e7d184d3a5c4a36c11f3388b6f
Author:     Jakov Smolic <[e-mail]>
AuthorDate: 2021-08-16 16:31:47 +0000
Commit:     Sam James <[e-mail]>
CommitDate: 2021-08-16 16:35:39 +0000

    sys-apps/busybox: Don't overwrite existing files when using make-symlinks
    
    Closes: https://bugs.gentoo.org/417263
    Signed-off-by: Jakov Smolic <[e-mail]>
    Closes: https://github.com/gentoo/gentoo/pull/21353
    Signed-off-by: Sam James <[e-mail]>

 sys-apps/busybox/busybox-1.33.1-r1.ebuild | 343 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 sys-apps/busybox/busybox-9999.ebuild      |   2 +-
 2 files changed, 344 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)