[pacman-dev] [RFC] Correct directory permissions if the extracting package is the only owner

[Doug Newgard]

On Sun,  1 Feb 2015 21:09:56 +1000
Allan McRae <allan at archlinux.org> wrote:

> Adjusting permissions of directories in their install scripts results
> in warnings such as the following when the package update:
> 
> warning: directory ownership differs on /var/lib/postfix/
> filesystem: 73:0 package: 0:0
> 
> If the package being installed is the only owner of the directory,
> update the directory's permissions to those in the package file.
> 
> This also allows directory permissions for a package to be changed
> directly in the PKGBUILD file rather that requiring adjustment in an
> install scriptlet.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Allan McRae <allan at archlinux.org>
> ---
> 
> This does require searching through all installed packages filelist
> to see if any other directories own this file, which does create a
> slowdown in these error cases. Once the ability to use symbolic names
> for owners is added, this code path will run only if there is an
> acutal error or in the rare case that directory permissions are
> genuinely being changed.
> 
> Packages can currently avoid this being run by reverting their
> directory permission changes in pre_upgrade().
> 
> I'd like to push this to maint if people agree.  These "false"
> warnings are causing too many issues.

So what can the user do if they changed it themselves and want
different permissions than what's in the package?