Red Hat Bugzilla – Bug 193694
MAKEDEV-3.15.2-3 contains symbolic link /dev/MAKEDEV conflicting with udev /sbin/start_udev
Last modified: 2008-06-26 21:56:14 EDT
Description of problem: The latest MAKEDEV package now includes /dev/MAKEDEV in its file list, as a symbolic link to '../sbin/MAKEDEV'. However, the /sbin/start_udev script which is part of the udev package, recreates this symbolic link at boot time as a link to '/sbin/MAKEDEV' (without the leading '..'). As a result, an rpm verify on the MAKEDEV package shows this this link has been altered. Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): MAKEDEV-3.15.2-3 How reproducible: always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Upgrade RHEL4 to latest MAKEDEV package (3.15.2-3) 2. Reboot your computer 3. Observe that at boot time, /sbin/start_udev recreates /dev/MAKEDEV link with different link target than contents of MAKEDEV RPM. Actual results: 'rpm -V MAKEDEV' will now report a verify error: % rpm -V MAKEDEV ....L...C /dev/MAKEDEV Expected results: 'rpm -V' should not show any changes to the MAKEDEV package on a generic RHEL4 system (one which has not been altered by the system administrator). Additional info: It would seem that the solution to this problem would be one of the following: 1. Update the MAKEDEV package and correct the symbolic link so that it contains: /dev/MAKEDEV -> /sbin/MAKEDEV instead of: /dev/MAKEDEV -> ../sbin/MAKEDEV 2. Update the udev package instead, and modify /sbin/start_udev so that when it recreates the link at boot time, it creates the link pointing to '../sbin/MAKEDEV' to match the contents of the MAKEDEV RPM package. 3. Remove the /dev/MAKEDEV from the MAKEDEV package.
Harald, any opinion here? I'm fine with either 1 or 2, but I don't think 3 is an option....
Hmm, but /dev/MAKEDEV in MAKEDEV does not make sense, since /dev is a mounted tmpfs (by initrd).
It used to make sense, and is still required in FHS 2.3 "if it is possible that devices will need to be manually created", which is a little vague if you ask me. Otherwise I'd be in favor of removing it as well.
The MAKEDEV package in RHEL5 no longer contains the /dev/MAKEDEV file, though it is created as a symlink by something else. The symlink points to /sbin/MAKEDEV so this should be fine.