URGENT: Bug Report for Debian's MaraDNS package...

[Greg Platt - Platt Consultants]

Per our conversation earlier today in the maradns mailman listserve please
record a formal bug report for the current stable version of maradns etch
4.0r3 and for the stable sarge release as well.

 

The Debian etch 4.0r3 installation of maradns has changed a very basic
assumption of the program at startup time. Namely, maradns normally assumes
it's basic configuration file will be found in /etc/mararc and it looks for
it there. The mara setup documentation at http://maradns.org
<http://maradns.org/>  makes it very clear this is where the file should be
placed. However in the Debian implementation this assumption has been
changed and the file is expected to be in a different location
(/etc/maradns/mararc). The maradns initialization script (
/etc/init.d/maradns ) package explicitly checks for the presence of the
mararc configuration file in the /etc/maradns directory rather than in the
/etc directory. If the configuration script is NOT found in that location,
the script abends and mara is not loaded during the initialization process. 

 

As far as I could determine, none of the existing Debian etch documentation
INCLUDING the README.Debian file in /usr/share/doc/maradns or the man page
for maradns mentions this change in location for the mararc configuration
file. Since the existing Debian etch maradns documentation is not designed
to REPLACE the original mara docs, it should make a CLEAR and highly visible
reference to this change in location for mara's main configuration file.  

 

The fact that the current documentation FAILS to do this causes one of two
specific issues during mara installation. Frankly, I encountered BOTH of
these issues during my own mara installation and setup. 

 

First, an installer who is following the regular mara setup and installation
tutorials (from http://maradns.org <http://maradns.org/> ) for how to create
a mararc file or how to create and modify mara zone files will tend to place
the mararc script in the WRONG location. The maradns.org docs call for
mararc to be in /etc and NOT in /etc/maradns. Later when mara does autostart
all the parameters placed in the installer's /etc/mararc file will be
IGNORED because Debian's boot-time script does not USE the USUAL mararc file
(/etc/mararc). As a result the custom setup defined by the installer are
ignored and mara defaults instead to the Debian-specific version of that
file stored in /etc/maradns/mararc without informing the installer that it
has done so. In short, mara ignores the user's custom setup for mararc and
uses the Debian "default" setup stored in /etc/maradns/mararc instead. 

 

Second, and perhaps more importantly, if the "apparently unused" copy of
mararc in /etc/maradns has been REMOVED or RENAMED by the installer (as I
did on my server because this file was not identified as being USED for any
purpose whatsoever in any of the docs I had oh-so-carefully read), then mara
fails to start at all during the boot process without giving any error
messages or warnings whatsoever. The way the boot script is now written if
the file /etc/maradns/mararc does not exist, the startup /etc/init.d/maradns
boot script just exits quietly and never gives any indication THAT mara did
not start or WHY it did not start!

 

Recommended Solution:

 

Option 1: The standard documentation package and tutorials for Mara should
either be converted and modified to reflect the change in location for
mararc or 

 

Option 2: At the very least a prominent warning message should be added to
the top of the README.Debian file that clearly states the location of mararc
MUST be /etc/maradns/mararc and NOT /etc/mararc. The /etc/init.d/maradns
boot script should ALSO check for the existence of a /etc/mararc file and
give a HIGHLY visible WARNING message if this 'normal' mara configuration
file is found. Conversely if the /etc/maradns/mararc configuration file is
NOT found where it is expected to be, a HIGHLY visible ERROR message should
also be displayed before the /etc/init.d/maradns script exits

 

 

Conclusion: 

 

By failing to notify the installer that Debian has changed a very basic
assumption about the location of Mara's primary configuration file, AND by
then failing to WARN when TWO versions of the file are present AND by
refusing to run the boot script when the relocated file is NOT present where
Debian assumes it will be, the Debian package has effectively booby-trapped
the road to a successful mara install in all directions!

 

Please correct this error ASAP.