GNU bug report logs - #76197
[PROPOSED] gzip: drop support for the GZIP env var

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Message #15 received at 76197-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Paul Eggert <eggert <at> cs.ucla.edu>
To: Lasse Collin <lasse.collin <at> tukaani.org>
Cc: 76197-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#76197: [PROPOSED] gzip: drop support for the GZIP env var
Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:50:14 -0800

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On 2025-02-12 05:58, Lasse Collin wrote:

> the removal makes gzip one
> of the few compression tools that don't support setting even the
> compression level via an environment variable.

Thanks for the review. On further thought I agree that, for backward 
compatibility reasons at least, the gzip command should continue to 
examine the GZIP environment variable for options like -9 that affect 
only performance (including compression performance). These options 
shouldn't cause the bigger glitches (and perhaps even security hazards) 
that behavior-oriented options can cause. This would be more in line 
with zstd, which takes this relatively-cautious approach to environment 
variables.

You mentioned --synchronous as being innocuous even though gzip 
currently doesn't allow it in GZIP, and that also is a good suggestion.

So I installed the attached patch instead into Savannah master gzip. It 
means gzip will pay attention to -1..-9, --rsyncable, and --synchronous 
but will silently ignore everything else in GZIP. The idea is that a 
garbage GZIP value shouldn't disrupt normal operations.

[0001-Ignore-GZIP-envvar-except-for-innocuous-flags.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

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