Re: [gentoo-dev] [PATCH] use.desc: add global USE flag 'split-sbin'

[Joshua Kinard <kumba@gentoo.org>]

On 10/15/2019 13:34, David Seifert wrote:
> On Tue, 2019-10-15 at 12:04 -0400, Mike Gilbert wrote:
>> On Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 12:02 PM Mike Gilbert <floppym@gentoo.org>
>> wrote:
>>> On Tue, Oct 15, 2019 at 8:00 AM David Seifert <soap@gentoo.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 2019-10-13 at 12:33 -0400, Mike Gilbert wrote:
>>>>> On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 1:52 PM David Seifert <soap@gentoo.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> On Sat, 2019-10-12 at 19:01 +0200, Dennis Schridde wrote:
>>>>>>> On Samstag, 12. Oktober 2019 18:02:28 CEST William Hubbs
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> On Sat, Oct 12, 2019 at 01:11:49PM +0200, Michał Górny
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> On Sat, 2019-10-12 at 13:00 +0200, David Seifert wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> * Some distros have not just merged / and /usr, they
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>   have also merged /usr/bin and /usr/sbin. By giving
>>>>>>>>>>   users the choice of merging */bin and */sbin,
>>>>>>>>>>   Gentoo follows suit.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> What about the scenario when /bin has been merged with
>>>>>>>>> /usr/sbin
>>>>>>>>> and /sbin with /usr/bin?  ;-P
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I also don't see the need for something like this. The
>>>>>>>> idea of
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> /usr
>>>>>>>> merge is to have all binaries available in one place, and
>>>>>>>> there
>>>>>>>> really
>>>>>>>> is not a good justification for separating bin from sbin.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Do I read this correctly?  USE=-split-usr currently means
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>> /bin,
>>>>>>> /sbin, /
>>>>>>> usr/bin and /usr/sbin point to the same directory?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If that is not the case, then I agree that users should
>>>>>>> have the
>>>>>>> possibility
>>>>>>> to set it up like this and USE=-split-sbin should be
>>>>>>> supported.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --Dennis
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I agree, I wasn't aware that USE=-split-usr implies the
>>>>>> complete 2-
>>>>>> level (/usr and *sbin) merge. In that case, all of this is
>>>>>> obsolete.
>>>>>
>>>>> That was NOT my intention when I introduced the split-usr USE
>>>>> flag.
>>>>>
>>>>> For bin/sbin, I would prefer to drop any conflicting links
>>>>> unconditionally. Do you have examples of scenarios where this
>>>>> is not
>>>>> possible?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> William has confirmed on IRC that USE=-split-usr performs the
>>>> complete
>>>> Fedora-esque /usr merge (which makes sense IMO).
>>>
>>> William's opinion is not the only one that matters.
>>
>> Sorry, I guess you are referring to the behavior baselayout? That
>> doesn't necessarily align with the global usage.
>>
> 
> https://gitweb.gentoo.org/proj/baselayout.git/tree/Makefile#n93
> 
> Clearly the usr-merge in baselayout intends to merge all these 4
> directories. There is currently no option to merge /usr and / but keep
> /bin and /sbin separate, so the most parsimonious solution here is to
> assume that usr-merge semantics in Gentoo is about merging all 4
> directories.

What is the source or origin point of the desire to merge /sbin into /bin?
I know Fedora/RedHat championed the /usr/[s]bin into /[s]bin bit, but this
is the first I've heard of trying to put all executables in one spot.  I
have my doubts about such an idea, but want to see what the rationale is
this time before writing the idea off to the funny farm.

My understanding for the separation was system binaries that only the
superuser needs to touch go into /sbin and everything else into /bin.  This
allowed for unpriv user PATHs to exclude /sbin (and in times antiquity, also
exclude /usr/sbin).

-- 
Joshua Kinard
Gentoo/MIPS
kumba@gentoo.org
rsa6144/5C63F4E3F5C6C943 2015-04-27
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