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Bug 983198

Summary: iptables-save man page completely wrong - which conflicting arguments should work?
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Reporter: Paul Wouters <pwouters>
Component: iptablesAssignee: Thomas Woerner <twoerner>
Status: CLOSED ERRATA QA Contact: Ales Zelinka <azelinka>
Severity: low Docs Contact:
Priority: unspecified    
Version: 6.4CC: azelinka, iptables-maint-list
Target Milestone: rc   
Target Release: ---   
Hardware: Unspecified   
OS: Unspecified   
Whiteboard:
Fixed In Version: Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Story Points: ---
Clone Of:
: 983200 1054871 (view as bug list) Environment:
Last Closed: 2013-11-21 23:34:48 UTC Type: Bug
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: 983200    

Description Paul Wouters 2013-07-10 16:59:59 UTC
Description of problem:

I was trying to prevent iptables-save from loading kernel modules. I looked at "man iptables-save" which said:

SYNOPSIS
       iptables-save [-M modprobe] [-c] [-t table]

      -M modprobe_program
              Specify the path to the modprobe program. By default, iptables-save will
              inspect /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe to determine the executable’s path.

However:
# iptables-save -M /dev/null
iptables-save: invalid option -- 'M'
Unknown arguments found on commandline

while iptables-save --help or -h does not work, the binary does seem to show there must me a magic incantation for it, because strings on the binary shows:

Usage: %s [-b] [-c] [-v] [-t] [-h]
           [ --binary ]
           [ --counters ]
           [ --verbose ]
           [ --test ]
           [ --help ]
           [ --noflush ]
           [ --table=<TABLE> ]
          [ --modprobe=<command>]



Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
iptables-1.4.7-9.el6.x86_64

And indeed, --modprobe= seems to work as expected.

So there is a problem between the documented arguments and the actual arguments, possible induced by /sbin/iptables-save being an "/etc/alternative" link to /sbin/iptables-save-1.4.7

I'm not sure if the bug should be "fix the man page" or "fix the binary/link".

but if people were used to -M and now need --modprobe, perhaps iptables-save should allow for both now.

Comment 1 Paul Wouters 2013-07-10 17:00:41 UTC
note that "iptables-save --help" or iptables-save -h" should also be fixed.

Comment 5 RHEL Program Management 2013-08-13 14:32:17 UTC
This request was evaluated by Red Hat Product Management for
inclusion in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux release.  Product
Management has requested further review of this request by
Red Hat Engineering, for potential inclusion in a Red Hat
Enterprise Linux release for currently deployed products.
This request is not yet committed for inclusion in a release.

Comment 9 errata-xmlrpc 2013-11-21 23:34:48 UTC
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2013-1710.html