Bug 78371

Summary: Allow system logfiles to be group readable
Product: [Retired] Red Hat Linux Reporter: Karl O. Pinc <kop>
Component: sysklogdAssignee: Jason Vas Dias <jvdias>
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE QA Contact: Brian Brock <bbrock>
Severity: medium Docs Contact:
Priority: medium    
Version: 7.3CC: mattdm, notting, wcooley
Target Milestone: ---   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: i386   
OS: Linux   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: FC5 Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of: Environment:
Last Closed: 2006-08-07 18:52:53 UTC Type: ---
Regression: --- Mount Type: ---
Documentation: --- CRM:
Verified Versions: Category: ---
oVirt Team: --- RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
Cloudforms Team: --- Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:
Bug Depends On:    
Bug Blocks: 72195    
Attachments:
Description Flags
Patch to allow syslogd's umask to be configured none

Description Karl O. Pinc 2002-11-21 20:45:02 UTC
Description of Problem:

We want the system logs to be group readable so you don't have to
be root to check up on the system.  The syslogd et-al umask
is hardcoded into /etc/init.d/syslog.  I'd like to see it a
configurable parameter.


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
Version     : 1.4.1                             Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
Release     : 8    

It may be appropriate to set the sticky bit on /var/log/, but
maybe not.

Am attaching a patch to set the appropriate umask.  (Patch sets
umask to current default, nobody but root can read or write.)
Uses /etc/sysconfig/syslog.

Comment 1 Karl O. Pinc 2002-11-21 20:45:47 UTC
Created attachment 85964 [details]
Patch to allow syslogd's umask to be configured

Comment 2 Andrei Ivanov 2003-02-07 19:29:54 UTC
Or at least man page should be updated. RHL7.2's version says (in BUGS section):

  If a file is created it is world readable.

With that "umask 077" command in /etc/rc.d/init.d/syslog default behaviour,
obviously, now is the opposite of what man page says.

Comment 3 Jason Vas Dias 2005-06-03 20:51:10 UTC
Sorry for the delay in getting to this bug .

The next version of sysklogd will support a configurable umask setting
similar to your attached patch. 

Comment 4 Jason Vas Dias 2005-06-03 21:25:39 UTC
*** Bug 72195 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 5 Bill Nottingham 2006-08-05 04:02:35 UTC
Red Hat apologizes that these issues have not been resolved yet. We do want to
make sure that no important bugs slip through the cracks.

Red Hat Linux 7.3 and Red Hat Linux 9 are no longer supported by Red Hat, Inc.
They are maintained by the Fedora Legacy project (http://www.fedoralegacy.org/)
for security updates only. If this is a security issue, please reassign to the
'Fedora Legacy' product in bugzilla. Please note that Legacy security update
support for these products will stop on December 31st, 2006.

If this is not a security issue, please check if this issue is still present
in a current Fedora Core release. If so, please change the product and version
to match, and check the box indicating that the requested information has been
provided.

If you are currently still running Red Hat Linux 7.3 or 9, please note that
Fedora Legacy security update support for these products will stop on December
31st, 2006. You are strongly advised to upgrade to a current Fedora Core release
or Red Hat Enterprise Linux or comparable. Some information on which option may
be right for you is available at http://www.redhat.com/rhel/migrate/redhatlinux/.

Any bug still open against Red Hat Linux 7.3 or 9 at the end of 2006 will be
closed 'CANTFIX'. Again, if this bug still exists in a current release, or is a
security issue, please change the product as necessary. We thank you for your
help, and apologize again that we haven't handled these issues to this point.


Comment 6 Wil Cooley 2006-08-07 18:51:30 UTC
The umask is not configurable in the init script, so I guess technically this
bug has been fixed.  There is a broader goal, in my mind, of "make wheel
useful", which includes giving group-read access to syslog logs, making that
group wheel, ensuring logrotate defaults to those permissions, etc., that this
bug touches on but does not wholly address.

Comment 7 Bill Nottingham 2006-08-07 18:52:53 UTC
Closing based on the context of original report - thanks!