GNU bug report logs - #13588
Pax hangs in case big UID

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From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: Petr Hracek <phracek <at> redhat.com>
Cc: 13588 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, GNU bug tracker automated control server <control <at> debbugs.gnu.org>, Jack Kelly <jack <at> jackkelly.name>, "automake-patches <at> gnu.org" <automake-patches <at> gnu.org>
Subject: bug#13588: Pax hangs in case big UID
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:45:43 +0200

On 04/22/2013 03:55 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> Hi Peter, thanks for the feedback.
> 
> On 04/22/2013 03:21 PM, Petr Hracek wrote:
>> Hello Stefano,
>>
>> thanks for the patch. All is working properly.
>> User is informed that UID is not enough smaller and configure script does not failed.
>>
> Good to know the logic is sound.  However, I now notice that there
> is still a problem with the output of configure :-/  (details below).
> 
>> Result is below:
>> test <at> localhost: ~/mycproject$ id
>> uid=17000000(test) gid=1001(test) groups=1001(test) context=unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023
>> test <at> localhost: ~/mycproject$ ./configure
>> checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
>> checking whether build environment is sane... yes
>> checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /usr/bin/mkdir -p
>> checking for gawk... gawk
>> checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes
>> checking how to create a ustar tar archive... checking whether UID '17000000' is small enough for ustar... no
>> none
>>
> Oops, there are two messages are crossing.  This is bad.
> I think the best solution at this point is simply to report the too-high UID
> only in the generated config.log rather than in the console output.  Updated
> patch coming up soonish (I hope)...
> 
Here it is.  I'd appreciate further testing, if possible.

Thanks,
  Stefano

---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ---- 8< ----

From bfb877d2337acfe3af1ef0d6e405f834a9287a37 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
Message-Id: <bfb877d2337acfe3af1ef0d6e405f834a9287a37.1366706596.git.stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:42:46 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] tar: pax could hang configure when big UID are involved

See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.

Tom Rini tom_rini <at> mentor.com says (in bug#8343):

    When the user has a UID or GID that is larger than the ustar format
    supports, pax does not error out gracefully in some cases (FC13).

Marc Herbert <marc.herbert <at> intel.com> adds (in bug#8343):

    When "configure" is run by a user with an UID bigger than 21 bits,
    BSD pax 3.4 aborts when trying to create the 'conftest.tar' test
    archive and leaves an empty or corrupted conftest.tar file behind.
    In the next step, pax tries to extract this incomplete or corrupted
    archive and this *** hangs the whole ./configure script ***.

    Note: GNU cpio 2.9 pretends to pass the test but it is a LIE: it
    silently truncates any big UID to its lower 21 bits. I don't know
    what can be the consequences of this lie.

Months later, Petr Hracek <phracek <at> redhat.com> reports a similar issue
(in bug#13588) for Fedora 17:

    I am trying to solve problem in case a user is created with big
    UID and during configuration pax hangs with message

        ATTENTION! pax archive volume change required.
        Ready for archive volume: 1
        Input archive name or "." to quit pax.
        Archive name >

    and needs user interaction.

    Reference: <https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=843376>

Time to fix this issue, on the line of a preliminary patch provided by
Petr Hracek in bug#13588.

* m4/tar.m4 (_AM_PROG_TAR): Don't use 'pax' if the UID or GID of the
current user is too high (> 2097151).
* NEWS: Update.
* THANKS: Likewise.

Signed-off-by: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
---
 NEWS      |  6 ++++++
 THANKS    |  3 +++
 m4/tar.m4 | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 3 files changed, 34 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index f9a1fb1..863ffdf 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -78,6 +78,12 @@ New in 1.13.2:

 * Bugs fixed:

+  - When the 'ustar' option is used, the generated configure script no
+    longer risks hanging during the tests for the availability of the
+    'pax' utility, even if the user running configure has a UID or GID
+    that requires more than 21 bits to be represented.
+    See automake bug#8343 and bug#13588.
+
   - The obsolete macros AM_CONFIG_HEADER or AM_PROG_CC_STDC work once
     again, as they did in Automake 1.12.x (albeit printing runtime
     warnings in the 'obsolete' category).  Removing them has turned
diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index 66498d4..a574909 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -224,6 +224,7 @@ Luo Yi                          luoyi.ly <at> gmail.com
 Maciej Stachowiak               mstachow <at> mit.edu
 Maciej W. Rozycki               macro <at> ds2.pg.gda.pl
 Manu Rouat                      emmanuel.rouat <at> wanadoo.fr
+Marc Herbert                    marc.herbert <at> intel.com
 Marcus Brinkmann                Marcus.Brinkmann <at> ruhr-uni-bochum.de
 Marcus G. Daniels               mgd <at> ute.santafe.edu
 Marius Vollmer                  mvo <at> zagadka.ping.de
@@ -311,6 +312,7 @@ Peter Muir                      iyhi <at> yahoo.com
 Peter O'Gorman                  peter <at> pogma.com
 Peter Rosin                     peda <at> lysator.liu.se
 Peter Seiderer                  seiderer123 <at> ciselant.de
+Petr Hracek                     phracek <at> redhat.com
 Petter Reinholdtsen             pere <at> hungry.com
 Petteri Räty                    betelgeuse <at> gentoo.org
 Phil Edwards                    phil <at> jaj.com
@@ -391,6 +393,7 @@ Tim Rice                        tim <at> multitalents.net
 Tim Van Holder                  tim.van.holder <at> pandora.be
 Toshio Kuratomi                 toshio <at> tiki-lounge.com
 Tom Epperly                     tepperly <at> llnl.gov
+Tom Rini                        tom_rini <at> mentor.com
 Ulrich Drepper                  drepper <at> gnu.ai.mit.edu
 Ulrich Eckhardt                 eckhardt <at> satorlaser.com
 Václav Haisman                  V.Haisman <at> sh.cvut.cz
diff --git a/m4/tar.m4 b/m4/tar.m4
index ec8c83e..61c1206 100644
--- a/m4/tar.m4
+++ b/m4/tar.m4
@@ -81,7 +81,31 @@ do
   AM_RUN_LOG([tardir=conftest.dir && eval $am__tar_ >conftest.tar])
   rm -rf conftest.dir
   if test -s conftest.tar; then
-    AM_RUN_LOG([$am__untar <conftest.tar])
+    m4_if([$1], [ustar], [
+      if test "$_am_tool" = pax; then
+        # Automake bugs #8343 and #13588: 'pax' can hang when UIDs
+        # or GIDs are involved that requires more than 21 bits to
+        # be stored.
+        am_max_uid=2097151 # 2^21 - 1
+        am_max_gid=$am_max_uid
+        # The $UID and $GID variables are not portable, so we need to
+        # resort to the POSIX-mandated id(1) utility.  Errors here are
+        # definitely unexpected, so allow the users to see them (i.e.,
+        # no stderr redirection).
+        am_uid=`id -u || echo unknown`
+        am_gid=`id -g || echo unknown`
+        if test $am_uid -le $am_max_uid; then :; else
+          AS_ECHO(["$as_me:$LINENO: UID '$am_uid' too large for ustar"]) \
+            >&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD
+          continue
+        fi
+        if test $am_gid -le $am_max_gid; then :; else
+          AS_ECHO(["$as_me:$LINENO: GID '$am_gid' too large for ustar"]) \
+            >&AS_MESSAGE_LOG_FD
+          continue
+        fi
+      fi
+    ]) # $1 == ustar
     grep GrepMe conftest.dir/file >/dev/null 2>&1 && break
   fi
 done
-- 
1.8.2.1.389.gcaa7d79

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