Package: cron
Version: 3.0pl1-174
Severity: important
Hi,
with /bin gone from the default PATH in /etc/crontab (due to #1042894), cron
will no longer find run-parts(8), which is in /bin, unless /bin is merged into
/usr/bin.
I ran into this on dozens of systems that were upgraded to sid semi-regularly
but have existed for several years. Cron was suddenly unable to run hourly,
daily, weekly and monthly jobs, which would all have involved run-parts,
effectively breaking cron on these systems almost completely (which is my
justification for the "important" severity).
I believe it would make sense to either
1. add an explicit dependency on usrmerge; or
2. modify the default crontab to at least invoke run-parts itself with its
full path (although this may still lead to breakage if the jobs themselves
assume /bin and /sbin are in the PATH); or
3. revert the change to the default PATH; or
4. somehow make the PATH dependent on whether /bin is a symlink to /usr/bin.
I only include the fourth option for completeness; I don't think it would be a
good idea.
András
-- System Information:
Debian Release: trixie/sid
APT prefers stable-security
APT policy: (500, 'stable-security'), (350, 'unstable'), (1, 'experimental')
merged-usr: no
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386
Kernel: Linux 6.4.0-3-amd64 (SMP w/8 CPU threads; PREEMPT)
Init: runit (via /run/runit.stopit)
--
To be or to not be, that is the split infinitive.
