Re: [gentoo-dev] cdrom.eclass vs KEYWORDS

[James Le Cuirot <chewi@gentoo.org>]

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On Wed, 25 Sep 2019 22:14:36 +0200
Michał Górny <mgorny@gentoo.org> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> I'm wondering if we're doing the right things by adding KEYWORDS to
> packages using cdrom.eclass.  After all, it's somewhat similar to live
> ebuilds.  That is, data is fetched outside regular PM mechanisms (though
> not implicitly through Internet, arguably) and it is not covered by any
> checksums.
> 
> This creates a somewhat gaping security hole to anyone using those
> packages.  After all, the ebuilds are going to happily install any
> malware you might have on that CD without even thinking twice about it. 
> In fact, with construction of many ebuilds it is entirely plausible that
> additional unexpected files may end up being installed.

Let's be realistic. If the CDs being used are pirated copies of dubious
origin then you deserve what you get. We're otherwise talking a
read-only medium that's generally been pressed in a factory. In the
highly unlikely event that there is malware present, it would probably
be for ancient versions of Windows or even MS-DOS. We usually only copy
off the data files anyhow. I have never seen any ebuilds for games that
run under Wine. I have considered adding some for games that run under
DOSBox but that is effectively sandboxed.

> To be honest, I don't think this is a problem that could be fixed. 
> Technically, we could add some kind of, say, b2sum lists to ebuilds
> and verify installed files against them.  However, the way I understand
> we frequently aim to support different releases of the same product,
> that may have wildly differing checksums.

When CDs were popular, different variants sometimes resulted in strange
bugs where it was not initially obvious what the cause was. Knowing
exactly what CD we're dealing with would be useful but on the other
hand, you'd probably have to read the whole CD for it to be effective,
which would take ages and may cause issues due to scratches and such.

> So maybe the most obvious solution would be to remove KEYWORDS from
> ebuilds unconditionally using cdrom.eclass (and their reverse
> dependencies), and mask USE=cdinstall on the rest.

Certainly only the unconditional case because the conditional case
would be a pain. In addition to what I've said above, you have to weigh
this up against the miniscule number of people who actually use them
these days, though I guess that could be taken as for or against. I
still like to support them but even I have many of the same games on
GOG now. As you know, I'd like to have GOG better supported but that's
another story.

-- 
James Le Cuirot (chewi)
Gentoo Linux Developer

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