Fwd: Re: Bug#782869: coreutils: rm,ls,cd,mkdir, etc should be set so root cant remove them.

[Richard Jasmin]

I believe this dev is in ERROR.It is insufficient to just say root has ultimate access.
System should have that access, not root. Root should never be able to do this, its too easy to take down a system with rm. Package components can still be removed, despite the non-ability to remove the package as a whole.Package components should use +i or equivalent. Im sorry if the dev doesnt agree.

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Re: Bug#782869: coreutils: rm,ls,cd,mkdir, etc should be set so root cant remove them.
Date:	Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:11:33 -0600
From:	Bob Proulx <address@hidden>
To:	richard jasmin <address@hidden>, address@hidden

richard jasmin wrote:
> Root can remove CORE commands from the system and then the system is forever
> borked.

Yes.  Root is the superuser.  With great power comes great
responsibility.

How did you remove the coreutils from your system?

> 1) there should be a fix for this: apt-get reinstall coreutils?
> 2) this bug should never be. System should have ultimate access, not root. Root
> should never be allowed to shoot self in foot.

In order to have done this you must have answered the force question.

  # dpkg --purge coreutils
  dpkg: error processing package coreutils (--purge):
   this is an essential package; it should not be removed
  Errors were encountered while processing:
   coreutils

There is already protection from removing the coreutils.  This is not
a bug in the coreutils package.

> please set immutable flag (+i) by default or imbed commands into kernel or
> something to fix this.

No.  That is not appropriate.  Instead you should exercise proper care
when using root not to shoot yourself in the foot.

If you have broken your system then I recommend using the
debian-installer in rescue mode to gain control of your system and
re-install the coreutuils.

Bob