/etc/passwd and symlinks

[Paul Fox]

 > > 
 > > readlink() (and also xmalloc_readlink()) simply returns the value
 > > of the named symlink.
 > 
 > I did understand this difference.
 > 
 > > (which makes the switch from realpath() 
 > > to xmalloc_readlink() somewhat suspicious, by the way.)
 > 
 > ?

sorry - i left out a word:  it makes the switch from realpath() 
to xmalloc_readlink() in insmod.c somewhat suspicious, because
the variable being assigned to is "absolute_filename".  i didn't
look closely to see if it mattered.

 >  
 > > i've written xmalloc_readlink_follow(char *path) which iteratively
 > > does textual expansion of path, expanding symlinks at the tail end
 > > of path.  no other canonicalization is done, and the result is not
 > > necessarily absolute.  this is the minimum needed for my "allow
 > > /etc/passwd to be a symlink" change, and it's probably useful for
 > > most of the other current uses of xmalloc_readlink().
 > 
 > Yes. Feel free to fix syslogd's use of xmalloc_readlink() too
 > (currently it will break if /dev/log is a link to link).

okay.  i'll commit my current changes, and then propose a separate
patch to the list in case someone recognizes a case where full symlink
expansion isn't right (unlikely, i suppose).

paul
=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at brightstareng.com