- Issued:
- 2009-11-11
- Updated:
- 2010-03-30
RHBA-2009:1574 - Bug Fix Advisory
Synopsis
man-pages bug fix update
Type/Severity
Bug Fix Advisory
Red Hat Insights patch analysis
Identify and remediate systems affected by this advisory.
Topic
An updated man-pages package that corrects numerous documentation errors
and omissions is now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.
Description
The man-pages package provides man (manual) pages from the Linux
Documentation Project.
This updated man-pages package addresses the following issues:
- some shells (including bash, the default Red Hat Enterprise Linux shell)
have a built-in "time" command. The time man page, however, documents
/usr/bin/time, which provides options not available using the shell keyword
equivalent. Previously, the time man page did not note this distinction.
The time manual's DESCRIPTION section now notes both the existence of
built-in time commands and that the man page documents /usr/bin/time and
not these built-in shell keywords. (BZ#443059)
- the proc pseudo file system includes a series of process status
information directories at /proc/[number]/stat (where [number] is the
Process ID or PID). There are 42 status parameters but the proc man page
did not document the 42nd, delayacct_blkio_ticks. This parameter, which
returns aggregated block I/O delays, is now documented. (BZ#452290)
- the proc man page referenced two external files incorrectly. In the
Description section, Memory Type Range Registers (/proc/mtrr) details were
referenced to /usr/src/linux/Documentation/mtrr.txt. The See Also section,
referenced proc.txt to /usr/src/linux/Documentation/filesystems/. The
referenced files are in /usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-2.6.18/Documentation/ and
the proc man page now reflects this. (BZ#456219)
- the POSIX man pages -- in /usr/share/man/man0p/, /usr/share/man/man1p/
and /usr/share/man/man3p/ -- document applications that are not necessarily
included with Red Hat Enterprise Linux but the documentation did not note
this. These pages now have a boilerplate PROLOG section added that notes
this explicitly. (BZ#468897)
- the syslog facility, LOG_KERN, specified the kernel as the message source
but did not note that this facility can be generated only by the kernel.
The syslog man page now notes the LOG_KERN facility cannot be generated
from user processes. (BZ#471176)
- the pthread_setaffinity_np (part of pthread.h) man page was not included
in the man-pages package. It now is. (BZ#474238)
- the /proc/sys/fs/file-nr description in the proc man page still reflected
file-nr's use by version 2.4.x of the Linux kernel. This description has
been updated to reflect the file's use in version 2.6 of the kernel.
(BZ#497197)
- the gai.conf man page included a repeated mis-spelling in its EXAMPLE
section: precendence. This has been corrected to "precedence". (BZ#515346)
- zdump, a tool which returns the time in each timezone listed on the
command line, includes a "--version" switch which returns zdump's version.
The zdump man page did not list this option. The switch is now listed in
the SYNOPSIS section as expected. (BZ#517309)
- the statfs man page has been completely updated. As well, "man statfs64"
now displays the statfs documentation rather than the statfs64 page, which
has been removed. This latter change removes a significant error in the
previous (and prototype) statfs64 SYNOPSIS section. (BZ#518984)
- the aliases description in the nsswitch.conf man page was easily
misconstrued to suggest aliases were not used at all. A re-written
description makes it clear this database is used and clarifies the default
SendMail configuration on Linux (which, by default, uses an alias
resolution system independent of /etc/nsswitch.conf). (BZ#522761)
- the SOCKET OPTIONS section of the ip man page listed IP_MULTICAST_IF as
taking ip_mreqn or ip_addr arguments. This is incorrect: IP_MULTICAST_IF
takes arguments with ip_mreqn or in_addr structures. This update corrects
the error. (BZ#524246)
- /proc/sys/fs/file-max defines a system-wide limit on the number of open
files for all processes. This limit does not, however, apply to a root user
(or any user with CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileges). This latter fact was not
documented in the proc man page: it now is. (BZ#527196)
All man page users should upgrade to this updated package, which resolves
these issues.
Solution
Before applying this update, make sure that all previously-released
errata relevant to your system have been applied.
This update is available via Red Hat Network. Details on how to use
the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/docs/DOC-11259
Affected Products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 x86_64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 ia64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5 i386
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 x86_64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5 i386
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 x86_64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5 i386
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5 s390x
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5 ppc
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 x86_64
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5 i386
Fixes
- BZ - 443059 - time & /usr/bin/time confusion
- BZ - 452290 - Manpage for /proc needs slight update
- BZ - 456219 - Location and status of proc.txt are unclear, misleading.
- BZ - 471176 - SYSLOG(3) enhancement request
- BZ - 497197 - stale definition of file-nr in proc(5) man page
- BZ - 515346 - Typos of 'precedence' spelled 'precendence' in examples from gai.conf manpage
- BZ - 517309 - zdump manpage does not match the real options
- BZ - 518984 - statfs64 man page prototype is incorrect
- BZ - 522761 - manual page nsswitch.conf(5) contains a confusing description for file /etc/aliases
- BZ - 524246 - IP_MULTICAST_IF incorrectly documented as to which arguments it takes.
- BZ - 527196 - /proc/sys/fs/file-max is not applicable for root users
CVEs
(none)
References
(none)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 5
SRPM | |
---|---|
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.src.rpm | SHA-256: 825f2f41afdf9e53d486c55c882d17d2994da68aef32223900cbeda1d5478eb2 |
x86_64 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
ia64 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
i386 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 5
SRPM | |
---|---|
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.src.rpm | SHA-256: 825f2f41afdf9e53d486c55c882d17d2994da68aef32223900cbeda1d5478eb2 |
x86_64 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
i386 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 5
SRPM | |
---|---|
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.src.rpm | SHA-256: 825f2f41afdf9e53d486c55c882d17d2994da68aef32223900cbeda1d5478eb2 |
x86_64 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
i386 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 5
SRPM | |
---|---|
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.src.rpm | SHA-256: 825f2f41afdf9e53d486c55c882d17d2994da68aef32223900cbeda1d5478eb2 |
s390x | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 5
SRPM | |
---|---|
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.src.rpm | SHA-256: 825f2f41afdf9e53d486c55c882d17d2994da68aef32223900cbeda1d5478eb2 |
ppc | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 5
SRPM | |
---|---|
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.src.rpm | SHA-256: 825f2f41afdf9e53d486c55c882d17d2994da68aef32223900cbeda1d5478eb2 |
x86_64 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
i386 | |
man-pages-2.39-15.el5.noarch.rpm | SHA-256: 12070a19bddca88447f437d0a017a229276f5eeb66dcdb6e7d3897ed8b2f5957 |
The Red Hat security contact is secalert@redhat.com. More contact details at https://access.redhat.com/security/team/contact/.