[klibc] Fwd: [Bug 2028571] Re: klibc-utils contains identical binaries

[Thorsten Glaser]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2023 16:40:58 -0000
Subject: [Bug 2028571] Re: klibc-utils contains identical binaries

jdupes normally considers hardlinks as one.

And, indeed, on my Debian system, I see:

-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  36656 May 27  2021 gunzip*
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  36656 May 27  2021 gzip*

These aren’t hardlinks.

And indeed they aren’t hardlinks in the Debian binary package either:

$ paxtar -xOf klibc-utils_2.0.8-6.1_amd64.deb data.tar.xz | xz -d | paxtar -tvf - | fgrep zip  
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root     root         36656 May 27  2021 ./usr/lib/klibc/bin/gunzip
-rwxr-xr-x  1 root     root         36656 May 27  2021 ./usr/lib/klibc/bin/gzip

debian/klibc-utils.install just has:

usr/lib/klibc/bin/*

These get placed there by:

override_dh_auto_install:
        $(MAKE) install $(KLIBC_MAKEFLAGS)

Upstream usr/gzip/Kbuild does hardlink them in the build directory:

$(obj)/gunzip $(obj)/zcat: $(obj)/gzip
        $(call cmd,ln)

The upstream “make install” call causes execution of:

  install -m 755 usr/gzip/gzip usr/gzip/gunzip usr/gzip/zcat
../tmp/usr/lib/klibc/bin

And, indeed, this breaks up the hardlink.

I see two actions arising from this:

① The Debian packaging probably should run something like…

for pkgtopdir in debian/*/; do jdupes -rL "$pkgtopdir"; done

… after installing all the files.

@maximilian attems, are you reading?

② Upstream should probably not use install(1) to install hardlinked
files; perhaps recreate the hardlinks in the destination like the BSDs
do?

I’ll forward this to the upstream mailing list.

** Changed in: klibc (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Confirmed

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2028571

Title:
  klibc-utils contains identical binaries

Status in klibc package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  ```
  $ jdupes -r /usr/lib/klibc/bin
  Scanning: 38 files, 1 items (in 1 specified)
  /usr/lib/klibc/bin/gunzip                                   
  /usr/lib/klibc/bin/gzip
  /usr/lib/klibc/bin/zcat

  /usr/lib/klibc/bin/halt
  /usr/lib/klibc/bin/poweroff
  /usr/lib/klibc/bin/reboot
  ```

  Please replace these binaries with symlinks to reduce the size of the
  uncompressed initramfs.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 23.04
  Package: klibc-utils 2.0.12-1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.2.0-25.25-generic 6.2.13
  Uname: Linux 6.2.0-25-generic x86_64
  NonfreeKernelModules: zfs zunicode zavl icp zcommon znvpair
  ApportVersion: 2.26.1-0ubuntu2
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
  CurrentDesktop: Unity:Unity7:ubuntu
  Date: Mon Jul 24 21:14:36 2023
  Dependencies: libklibc 2.0.12-1
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2022-03-20 (491 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 21.10 "Impish Indri" - Release amd64 (20211012)
  SourcePackage: klibc
  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to lunar on 2023-04-20 (95 days ago)

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