Bug#861343: debootstrap: hardcodes mawk as awk provider

[Sven Joachim]

On 2018-03-19 22:12 +0100, Raphael Hertzog wrote:

> On Mon, 19 Mar 2018, Hideki Yamane wrote:
>>  However, in scripts/*, there's unnecessary mawk hardcode line and
>>  we can remove it safely as attached patch.
> [...]
>> -ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
>> +ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
>
> Huh? This doesn't make any sense. You are creating a symlink named "awk" that
> points to itself. And you will have broken everything.
>
> The problem is the lack of /usr/bin/awk because that file is handled by
> update-alternatives which can't be run in the early steps. So it's
> manually created and it needs to point to the awk alternative that
> has been unpacked earlier.
>
> At best you can try to match /usr/bin/*awk to try to guess how the
> awk executable is named and use that to look up the package name
> (for the x_core_install call that also hardcodes the mawk name)
> and create the appropriate symlink (which will get replaced by
> the update-alternatives managed one).

Attached is a patch which tries to do that.  Unfortunately I could not
test it, since I don't have a local mirror where I could swap the
priorities of mawk and original-awk (or gawk).

Cheers,
   Sven

>From 52b84c8693d99fe877d9e612881503fe28c39210 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sven Joachim 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2017 09:23:20 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Handle case where some other awk than mawk is required

Set up original-awk or gawk, if they had been downloaded instead of
mawk.  This should make it possible to let either of those have
"Priority: required" and downgrade mawk's priority.
---
 scripts/debian-common | 14 +++---
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/scripts/debian-common b/scripts/debian-common
index 211a4c4..88dbc07 100644
--- a/scripts/debian-common
+++ b/scripts/debian-common
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ case $ARCH in
 	*)  LIBC="libc6" ;;
 esac
 
+find_awk () {
+	if [ -x "$TARGET/usr/bin/mawk" ]; then AWK=mawk
+	elif [ -x "$TARGET/usr/bin/original-awk" ]; then AWK=original-awk
+	elif [ -x "$TARGET/usr/bin/gawk" ]; then AWK=gawk
+	fi
+}
+
 work_out_debs () {
 	required="$(get_debs Priority: required)"
 
@@ -117,7 +124,8 @@ Status: install ok installed" >> "$TARGET/var/lib/dpkg/status"
 	info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-	ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+	find_awk
+	[ -n "$AWK" ] && ln -sf $AWK "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 	x_core_install base-passwd
 	x_core_install base-files
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
@@ -138,8 +146,8 @@ Status: install ok installed" >> "$TARGET/var/lib/dpkg/status"
 	x_core_install perl-base
 
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #6
-	rm "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
-	x_core_install mawk
+	rm -f "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+	[ -n "$AWK" ] && x_core_install $AWK
 
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #7
 	if doing_variant -; then
-- 
2.18.0

Bug#861343: debootstrap: hardcodes mawk as awk provider

[Raphael Hertzog]

Hi Hideki,

On Mon, 19 Mar 2018, Hideki Yamane wrote:
>  However, in scripts/*, there's unnecessary mawk hardcode line and
>  we can remove it safely as attached patch.
[...]
> - ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
> + ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"

Huh? This doesn't make any sense. You are creating a symlink named "awk" that
points to itself. And you will have broken everything.

The problem is the lack of /usr/bin/awk because that file is handled by
update-alternatives which can't be run in the early steps. So it's
manually created and it needs to point to the awk alternative that
has been unpacked earlier.

At best you can try to match /usr/bin/*awk to try to guess how the
awk executable is named and use that to look up the package name
(for the x_core_install call that also hardcodes the mawk name)
and create the appropriate symlink (which will get replaced by
the update-alternatives managed one).

Cheers,
-- 
Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer

Support Debian LTS: https://www.freexian.com/services/debian-lts.html
Learn to master Debian: https://debian-handbook.info/get/

Bug#861343: debootstrap: hardcodes mawk as awk provider

[Hideki Yamane]

control: tags -1 +patch

On Thu, 27 Apr 2017 20:35:01 +0200 Sven Joachim  wrote:
> It might be useful for Debian or derivatives to change the default awk
> provider, which currently is mawk - a package that has de facto been
> unmaintained in Debian for several years.  The original-awk package is
> in my experience considerably less buggy and similarly small.
> 
> However, all the scripts/* files in debootstrap currently hardcode mawk,
> making it impossible to swap the priorities of mawk and original-awk
> without instantly breaking debootstrap. :-(

 mawk package is "required" but other awk packages are "optional".
 Perhaps it is the reason for mawk to be choosed. 

 However, in scripts/*, there's unnecessary mawk hardcode line and
 we can remove it safely as attached patch.

diff --git a/scripts/aequorea b/scripts/aequorea
index 1ae17d8..fb70941 100644
--- a/scripts/aequorea
+++ b/scripts/aequorea
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ second_stage_install () {
 	info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-	ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+	ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 	x_core_install base-passwd
 	x_core_install base-files
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
diff --git a/scripts/breezy b/scripts/breezy
index f15967a..132d7ea 100644
--- a/scripts/breezy
+++ b/scripts/breezy
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@ second_stage_install () {
 info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 x_core_install base-files base-passwd
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
 x_core_install dpkg
diff --git a/scripts/dapper b/scripts/dapper
index b1e44d0..4ea3cfa 100644
--- a/scripts/dapper
+++ b/scripts/dapper
@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ second_stage_install () {
 info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 x_core_install base-files base-passwd
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
 x_core_install dpkg
diff --git a/scripts/debian-common b/scripts/debian-common
index 36989a2..a8591bd 100644
--- a/scripts/debian-common
+++ b/scripts/debian-common
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ Status: install ok installed" >> "$TARGET/var/lib/dpkg/status"
 	info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-	ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+	ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 	x_core_install base-passwd
 	x_core_install base-files
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
diff --git a/scripts/edgy b/scripts/edgy
index 719a258..eb4ec56 100644
--- a/scripts/edgy
+++ b/scripts/edgy
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ second_stage_install () {
 info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 x_core_install base-files base-passwd
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
 x_core_install dpkg
diff --git a/scripts/feisty b/scripts/feisty
index e38f799..671ff86 100644
--- a/scripts/feisty
+++ b/scripts/feisty
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ second_stage_install () {
 info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 x_core_install base-files base-passwd
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
 x_core_install dpkg
diff --git a/scripts/gutsy b/scripts/gutsy
index 65a748f..b4066c1 100644
--- a/scripts/gutsy
+++ b/scripts/gutsy
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ Status: install ok installed" >> "$TARGET/var/lib/dpkg/status"
 	info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-	ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+	ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 	x_core_install base-passwd
 	x_core_install base-files
 	p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
diff --git a/scripts/hoary b/scripts/hoary
index e5fe9fc..7821e2b 100644
--- a/scripts/hoary
+++ b/scripts/hoary
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ second_stage_install () {
 info INSTCORE "Installing core packages..."
 
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #2
-ln -sf mawk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
+ln -sf awk "$TARGET/usr/bin/awk"
 x_core_install base-files base-passwd
 p; progress $baseprog $bases INSTCORE "Installing core packages" #3
 x_core_install dpkg
diff --git a/scripts/hoary.buildd b/scripts/hoary.buildd
index 8d10d80..e625d79 100644
--- a/scripts/hoary.buildd
+++ 

Bug#861343: debootstrap: hardcodes mawk as awk provider

[Sven Joachim]

Package: debootstrap
Version: 1.0.89
Severity: normal

It might be useful for Debian or derivatives to change the default awk
provider, which currently is mawk - a package that has de facto been
unmaintained in Debian for several years.  The original-awk package is
in my experience considerably less buggy and similarly small.

However, all the scripts/* files in debootstrap currently hardcode mawk,
making it impossible to swap the priorities of mawk and original-awk
without instantly breaking debootstrap. :-(


-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.0
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (101, 'experimental')
Architecture: i386
 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.24-nouveau (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages debootstrap depends on:
ii  wget  1.19.1-3

Versions of packages debootstrap recommends:
ii  debian-archive-keyring  2014.3
ii  gnupg   2.1.18-6

debootstrap suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information