Re: Recommendation for Adjusting Command Categorization in Manual Pages

[Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>]

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Hi Jingzi!

On Wed, Jan 10, 2024 at 07:12:49PM +0800, 孟敬姿 wrote:
> Hi! I hope this message finds you well.
> 
> We have identified an issue in the categorization 
> of certain commands in the man-pages and would like 
> to bring it to your attention.
> 
> Upon testing on Debian 11, we observed discrepancies 
> between the stated privilege requirements in the manual 
> pages and the actual behavior of some commands. 
> 
> According to the introduction pages, commands in section 
> 8 require superuser privileges to run, but we found some 
> commands that do not necessitate superuser privileges for 
> execution:
> lnstat, findfs, blkid, lsblk, lsmod, lspci, modinfo, 
> isosize, lastlog, tzselect, zdump, getcap, getpcaps, 
> mklost_found, tracepath.
> 
> These commands predominantly query system information and 
> do not involve sensitive resources.
> For example, lnstat print Linux network statistics, the 
> statics comes from /proc/net/stat which could be read by 
> anyone. Lastlog reports the most recent login users, the 
> similar commands like last, printky and users are all in 
> section 1. And it is clearly stated in tracepath(8) that 
> the command does not require superuser privileges.
> 
> The introduction of section 1 claims that those commands 
> to be user commands, but some commands require superuser 
> privileges to run: 
> dumpkeys, fgconsole, kbdindo, kbd_mode, showkey, 
> deallocvt, tcpdump, chage, gpasswd, mesg, mkfifo.
> 
> These commands manipulate special resources like keyboards, 
> virtual terminals and pipes. Notably, tcpdump exists in both 
> Section 1 and Section 8, but it can only be used with privileges.
> 
> To enhance clarity and align with the intended privilege 
> requirements, we recommend adjusting the categorization of these
> commands. This adjustment will ensure that users referring to 
> the manual pages can accurately configure command permissions 
> without unnecessary use of privileges and contribute to a more 
> intuitive and accurate manual page structure.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jingzi

Could you please suggest a specific patch to the manual pages?

Have a lovely day,
Alex

-- 
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>
Looking for a remote C programming job at the moment.

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