[Bug 1892825] Re: update-locale not perform correctly sanity checks

[Michael Hudson-Doyle]

Verified:

root at focal-vm:~# dpkg -l locales | grep ^ii
ii  locales        2.31-0ubuntu9.7 all          GNU C Library: National Language (locale) data [support]
root at focal-vm:~# cp /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
root at focal-vm:~# update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE = en_US.UTF-8
root at focal-vm:~# diff -u /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
--- /etc/default/locale	2022-04-19 18:07:15.583098433 +0000
+++ /tmp/locale	2022-04-26 00:56:47.140767044 +0000
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+=
root at focal-vm:~# apt install -y -t focal-proposed libc6 locales libc-bin
[snip]

root at focal-vm:~# dpkg -l locales | grep ^ii
ii  locales        2.31-0ubuntu9.9 all          GNU C Library: National Language (locale) data [support]
root at focal-vm:~# cp /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
root at focal-vm:~# update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE = en_US.UTF-8
root at focal-vm:~# diff -u /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
root at focal-vm:~# update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
root at focal-vm:~# diff -u /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
--- /etc/default/locale	2022-04-26 00:58:34.429027581 +0000
+++ /tmp/locale	2022-04-26 00:58:39.333040731 +0000
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
root at focal-vm:~# update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
root at focal-vm:~# diff -u /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
--- /etc/default/locale	2022-04-26 00:58:34.429027581 +0000
+++ /tmp/locale	2022-04-26 00:58:58.457092930 +0000
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
root at focal-vm:~# update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE
root at focal-vm:~# diff -u /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
--- /etc/default/locale	2022-04-26 00:58:34.429027581 +0000
+++ /tmp/locale	2022-04-26 00:59:11.493129343 +0000
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
+#LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8


** Tags removed: verification-needed verification-needed-focal
** Tags added: verification-done-focal

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1892825

Title:
  update-locale not perform correctly sanity checks

Status in glibc package in Ubuntu:
  In Progress
Status in pam package in Ubuntu:
  New
Status in glibc source package in Bionic:
  New
Status in pam source package in Bionic:
  New
Status in glibc source package in Focal:
  Fix Committed
Status in pam source package in Focal:
  New
Status in glibc source package in Hirsute:
  Won't Fix
Status in pam source package in Hirsute:
  New
Status in glibc source package in Impish:
  New
Status in pam source package in Impish:
  New

Bug description:
  [impact]
  A simple typo using the update-locale script can render a system inoperable without booting into single user mode or similar:

  $ sudo update-locale LANGUAGE = en_US.UTF-8
  $ sudo -s
  sudo: pam_open_session: Bad item passed to pam_*_item()
  sudo: policy plugin failed session initialization

  [test case]
  $ cp /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale
  $ update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE = en_US.UTF-8

  "diff -u /etc/default/locale /tmp/locale" should be empty.

  $ update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8

  The LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8 line should have been replaced by
  LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8.

  $ update-locale --locale-file /tmp/locale LANGUAGE

  The LANGUAGE setting is now commented out.

  [regression potential]
  Apart from the general concerns about a glibc rebuild, this is a simple change to a simple script. Performing the test as in the test case section is enough to ensure it still works.

  [original description]
  By passing wrong input as following:
   sudo update-locale LANGUAGE = en_US.UTF-8
  result is:
  ...
  #LANGUAGE=en
  =

  This "equal" sign that was added makes system completely
  unusable(can't run sudo anymore):

  bentzy at bentzy-nb:~$ sudo vim /etc/default/locale
  sudo: pam_open_session: Bad item passed to pam_*_item()
  sudo: policy plugin failed session initialization

  Fixed it booting from installation disk and fixing corrupted
  /etc/default/locale

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: locales 2.31-0ubuntu9
  Uname: Linux 5.5.4-050504-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.6
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  CurrentDesktop: KDE
  Date: Tue Aug 25 09:36:03 2020
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2020-08-17 (7 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Kubuntu 20.04 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200423)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: glibc
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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