Josip Rodin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Okay, given that I see no rationale for the sentence "Mailboxes must be > writable by group mail.", I'm reassigning this to debian-policy.
Here is a proposed change to loosen this requirement. Please comment. One concern that I have with allowing either permission scheme is that if an MUA needs to recreate the spool file, how should it know what permissions to use? diff --git a/policy.sgml b/policy.sgml index 24c9072..f794ed5 100644 --- a/policy.sgml +++ b/policy.sgml @@ -8046,12 +8046,24 @@ http://localhost/doc/<var>package</var>/<var>filename</var> </p> <p> - Mailboxes are generally mode 660 - <tt><var>user</var>:mail</tt> unless the system - administrator has chosen otherwise. A MUA may remove a - mailbox (unless it has nonstandard permissions) in which - case the MTA or another MUA must recreate it if needed. - Mailboxes must be writable by group mail. + Mailboxes are generally either owned by <var>user</var> and mode + 600 or owned by <tt><var>user</var>:mail</tt> and mode 660 + unless the system administrator has chosen otherwise<footnote> + There are two traditional permission schemes for mail spools: + mode 600 with all mail delivery done by processes running as + the destination user, or mode 660 and owned by group mail with + mail delivery done by a process running as a system user in + group mail. Historically, Debian required mode 660 mail + spools to enable the latter model, but that model has become + increasingly uncommon and principal of least privilege + indicates that mail systems that use the first model should + use permissions of 600. If delivery to programs is permitted, + it's easier to keep the mail system secure if the delivery + agent runs as the destination user. Debian Policy therefore + permits either scheme. + </footnote>. A MUA may remove a mailbox (unless it has + nonstandard permissions) in which case the MTA or another MUA + must recreate it if needed. </p> <p> -- Russ Allbery ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
