bugfix for the ISC SECURITY BUGFIX diskettes; detailed instructions

Keith Ericson keithe at sail.LABS.TEK.COM
Fri Mar 22 13:20:43 AEST 1991


I received my ISC Security BugFix Diskettes today (Thanks, Marty!!) and
jumped in to install the fixes (FX00047-2Z; "SECURITY FIX DISK FOR OS
V2.1.1).

I have an Everex Step/25 running ISC 2.0.2.  I attempted to load the bugfix
package as directed in the instructions with

	sysadm installpkg

and answered all the questions. It told me it was copying all the
files, but then bombed out with an error message something like

	1.save: bad number

I was then prompted for the second diskette of the package (there is
only one for this particular package).  At this point I ^C'd out of it,
with an incomplete installation. (The files were copied, but the kernel
hadn't been rebuilt.)  I tried it again with the same result.

What to do, what to do...?

Well, I mounted the diskette drive filesystem and went looking for the culprit.

	[Uh, the first time I tried to mount it mount told me the file
	system was possibly damaged and refused to mount it as a read-
	write file system. So I had to "fsck -y" it first. See below
	for details.]

Turns out that down deep in the INSTALL script is a test to see if all
the diskettes have been read in.  It checks an incrementing value
($thisdisk) against a value ($lastdisk) which is obtained by reading the
contents of a file on the diskette; the content(s) of that (those) file(s)
is (are) bogus.  Instead of being simply the numeral "1" it is "1.save"
causing the subsequent test to fail, error message(s) to be printed, and
the wrong path taken regarding additional required diskettes.  My fix is
to edit the file(s).

Mount the diskette to a convenient mount point (/install is good).  Then
cd to /install and examine the contents of */*/NBRDISKS (cat */*/NBRDISKS).
If your files contain "1.save" your installation will likely fail (has
likely failed?) as mine did.  Change these by deleting the ".save" portion
and you'll be all set.  Unmount the diskette (cd'd out of /install first) and
run the installation again.  In my case it (re)copied the files, got past
the previous trouble spot, rebuilt the kernel, and instructed me what to
do after the script completed (runs /etc/inskern, and reboot).

Oh yeah - the next time I rebooted the system, I got a bunch of complaints
from mknod (I think it was) that it couldn't make pts00 through pts15; I
assume this is because they already existed, and I've experienced no
subsequent recurrence nor problems I could attribute to these (warning?)
messages.

Have Fun.  I know I did!

(help *) KEITHE()

PS - with the bug fix installed the "toete" program now resultes in a core
     dump.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Tedious Details Follow:

Insert the BugFix diskette into the drive.
	Mine is a 3-1/2" high density diskette, and that is the second
	floppy on my machine. It's known as /dev/dsk/f15qt (DOS refers
	to it as "Drive B:")  If yours is "Drive A:" then it's
	/dev/dsk/f05qt.  A 5-1/4", 1.2Mbyte will be either /dev/f0q15dt
	("Drive A:") or /dev/f1q15dt ("Drive B").

Su to root
	su (provide root password)

Mount the drive
	mount /dev/dsk/f15qt  /install
		       ^^^^^---------- put whatever is appropriate here

	[If mount tells you that the file system is possibly damaged and
	refuses to mount it you'll have to fsck it first: type in

		fsck -y /dev/dsk/f15qt
				 ^^^^^--- put whatever is appropriate here

	Mount the diskette and proceed.]

Get to the right place
	cd /install

Edit the offending files
	vi */*/NBRDISKS

		delete the ".save" portion; you should end up with just
		"1" for the contents of these files

Get out of /install
	cd /

Unmount the diskstte
	unmount /dev/dsk/f15qt  /install
			 ^^^^^---------- put whatever is appropriate here

Run the installation again
	sysadm installpkg



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