FS#67679 - [xorg-xinit] drop dependency on legacy inetutils for `hostname`

Attached to Project: Arch Linux
Opened by Geert Hendrickx (ghen) - Saturday, 22 August 2020, 20:24 GMT
Last edited by Andreas Radke (AndyRTR) - Saturday, 10 October 2020, 14:33 GMT
Task Type General Gripe
Category Packages: Extra
Status Closed
Assigned To Jan de Groot (JGC)
Andreas Radke (AndyRTR)
Architecture All
Severity Low
Priority Normal
Reported Version
Due in Version Undecided
Due Date Undecided
Percent Complete 100%
Votes 0
Private No

Details

xorg-xinet depends on inetutils, a set of legacy, deprecated and totally insecure network tools like rsh, rcp, talk, ... and their server counterparts with systemd services. I don't want any of these on my systems.

As far as I can see, this is only because /usr/bin/startx uses `hostname`.

Could startx be patched to use compatible /usr/lib/gettext/hostname instead? (gettext is required by base.)
So we can get red of inetutils on many Arch installations. (fans of `telnet` can continue to install inetutils, of course.)

Alternatively, maybe gettext should provide /usr/bin/hostname, instead of inetutils. Their functionality is the same.



$ /usr/bin/hostname --help
Usage: hostname [OPTION...] [NAME]
Show or set the system's host name.

-a, --aliases alias names
-d, --domain DNS domain name
-f, --fqdn, --long DNS host name or FQDN
-F, --file=FILE set host name or NIS domain name from FILE
-i, --ip-addresses addresses for the host name
-s, --short short host name
-y, --yp, --nis NIS/YP domain name
-?, --help give this help list
--usage give a short usage message
-V, --version print program version

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional
for any corresponding short options.

Report bugs to <bug-inetutils@gnu.org>.



$ /usr/lib/gettext/hostname --help
Usage: /usr/lib/gettext/hostname [OPTION]

Print the machine's hostname.

Output format:
-s, --short short host name
-f, --fqdn, --long long host name, includes fully qualified domain
name, and aliases
-i, --ip-address addresses for the hostname

Informative output:
-h, --help display this help and exit
-V, --version output version information and exit

Report bugs in the bug tracker at <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gettext>
or by email to <bug-gettext@gnu.org>.
This task depends upon

Closed by  Andreas Radke (AndyRTR)
Saturday, 10 October 2020, 14:33 GMT
Reason for closing:  Fixed
Additional comments about closing:  1.4.1-3
Comment by loqs (loqs) - Saturday, 22 August 2020, 21:19 GMT
inetutils also contains multiple unpatched vulnerabilities  FS#61041 

Another option would be to use hostname provided by Debian which is used by Debian and Fedora.
Comment by Jensen McKenzie (your_doomsday) - Saturday, 10 October 2020, 11:21 GMT
  • Field changed: Percent Complete (100% → 0%)
Patch for this was accepted upstream, Arch should consider backport https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/app/xinit/-/commit/e2430bcb8327682340d985f89ad5137efa2f0d4f

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