[SOLVED] Is rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share} safe?

DCengineer · 2016-05-02 00:59:54

I was looking at a PKGBUILD file (the one for lib32-libjpeg6-turbo), and I saw this line:

rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share}

It looks like it will attempt to erase /usr/bin, /usr/include, and /usr/share. I am wondering if this is actually the case, or if the contents of "${pkgdir}" prevents that from happening. I know that Arch Build System also creates a fake root, is that what is getting cleared?

Last edited by DCengineer (2016-05-02 04:02:23)

Scimmia · 2016-05-02 01:27:47

It's doing this in $pkgdir, not your root filesystem

Last edited by Scimmia (2016-05-02 10:51:48)

fukawi2 · 2016-05-02 02:23:39

In theory it's not safe -- for example if you copied it to your own script where $pkgdir is not defined, and ran it as root, then yes it would wipe those important paths.

Within a PKGBUILD, it's practically safe since (baring any bugs) $pkgdir is always set correctly, and should be running inside a fakeroot environment as a non-root user to protect your actual filesystem.

DCengineer · 2016-05-02 03:55:15

Where is $pkgdir defined? My guess is that it is intentionally not defined directly in PKGBUILD

fukawi2 · 2016-05-02 03:56:52

$pkgdir is setup by `makepkg`

Check the "PACKAGING FUNCTIONS" section of the PKGBUILD man page.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-05-02 00:59:54

[SOLVED] Is rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share} safe?

#2 2016-05-02 01:27:47

Re: [SOLVED] Is rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share} safe?

#3 2016-05-02 02:23:39

Re: [SOLVED] Is rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share} safe?

#4 2016-05-02 03:55:15

Re: [SOLVED] Is rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share} safe?

#5 2016-05-02 03:56:52

Re: [SOLVED] Is rm -rf "${pkgdir}"/usr/{bin,include,share} safe?

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