bug#7572: [PATCH] PAM support for su

[Ludwig Nussel]

Jim Meyering wrote:
> Ludwig Nussel wrote:
> > Are there any concerns with the patch? It would be really nice to
> > have this merged upstream to avoid further fragmentation.
> 
> The main concern is that by default coreutils doesn't even build su anymore.

Does that mean you intend to drop su from coreutils? If so is there
any suggested alternative? Should we move su to e.g. util-linux
instead?

> However, if this makes it easier on Fedora and Suse packagers, then
> I suppose it's worthwhile.
> 
> If you'd like to pursue the matter, there are a few missing pieces:
> 
>  - Ensure that "make syntax-check" still passes with this patch.
>    I see cpp indentation that may fail the test that runs cppi.
>    That test is run only when cppi is installed, so you may have
>    to install it.
>
>  - it will need a ChangeLog entry, including attribution if you can
>    dig that up.

Ok, I'll check both.

>  - I haven't looked carefully, but considering the size, I'd be
>    surprised if there is no need to document changes -- in
>    coreutils.texi

Yes. Our package actually has a separate patch that modifies the
docu. For upstream the pam support is optional though so any
addition to coreutils.texi would need to be conditional I suppose.
So we'd need e.g. a coreutils.texi.in that gets rewritten by
configure.

>  - include a NEWS entry

ok

>  - tests would be most welcome, but I won't insist on those

Hmm, I'm not sure that's feasible. Tests would need to run as
root and they'd likely have to modify /etc/pam.d.

cu
Ludwig

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