[Bug 1001189] Re: 'man' command fails with lseek error opening cross-architecture index.db file (on network share)

[Colin Watson]

** Description changed:

+ [Impact] Sharing a directory containing manual page databases between 32-bit and 64-bit systems can cause man to crash.
+ [Test Case] Configure a local manual page hierarchy (in ~/.manpath or otherwise), containing a single page.  Run mandb over it from a 64-bit environment.  Request that page using man from a 32-bit environment.
+ [Regression Potential] This code has been in 12.10 and Debian for quite a while, so I think it's pretty safe.  If it fails, it'll be fairly obvious from routine use of man and mandb.
+ 
+ Original report follows:
+ 
  When trying to look up the on-line documentation using the 'man' command
  it fails on 12.04 with lseek error. For example:
  
  $ man resolvconf
  gdbm fatal: lseek error
  
  This lseek error applies to other requests as well (e.g. ls, fdisk,
  etc). System information is:
  
  $ lsb_release -rd
  Description:	Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
  Release:	12.04
  
  apt-cache policy man
  man:
-   Installed: (none)
-   Candidate: (none)
-   Version table:
+   Installed: (none)
+   Candidate: (none)
+   Version table:
  
  However, it is installed since it runs as a command, and I find:
  
  $ which man
  /usr/bin/man
  
  $ man --version
  man 2.6.1
  
  What I expect is to read the manual page appropriate to the
  command/program, and not get a software error.

** Changed in: man-db (Ubuntu Precise)
       Status: Triaged => In Progress

** Changed in: man-db (Ubuntu Precise)
     Assignee: (unassigned) => Colin Watson (cjwatson)

** Changed in: man-db (Ubuntu Precise)
    Milestone: None => ubuntu-12.04.2

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1001189

Title:
  'man' command fails with lseek error opening cross-architecture
  index.db file (on network share)

Status in “gdbm” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged
Status in “man-db” package in Ubuntu:
  Fix Released
Status in “man-db” source package in Precise:
  In Progress

Bug description:
  [Impact] Sharing a directory containing manual page databases between 32-bit and 64-bit systems can cause man to crash.
  [Test Case] Configure a local manual page hierarchy (in ~/.manpath or otherwise), containing a single page.  Run mandb over it from a 64-bit environment.  Request that page using man from a 32-bit environment.
  [Regression Potential] This code has been in 12.10 and Debian for quite a while, so I think it's pretty safe.  If it fails, it'll be fairly obvious from routine use of man and mandb.

  Original report follows:

  When trying to look up the on-line documentation using the 'man'
  command it fails on 12.04 with lseek error. For example:

  $ man resolvconf
  gdbm fatal: lseek error

  This lseek error applies to other requests as well (e.g. ls, fdisk,
  etc). System information is:

  $ lsb_release -rd
  Description:	Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
  Release:	12.04

  apt-cache policy man
  man:
    Installed: (none)
    Candidate: (none)
    Version table:

  However, it is installed since it runs as a command, and I find:

  $ which man
  /usr/bin/man

  $ man --version
  man 2.6.1

  What I expect is to read the manual page appropriate to the
  command/program, and not get a software error.

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