RHBA-2003:277 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated "at" packages that address the improper selection of the shell used
for running jobs are now available. A man page containing incorrect
information has also been revised.

Description

The "at" and "batch" utilities are used to run a specified job at the
desired time.

The "at" and "batch" man page claim (as does a warning message when these
utilities are run) that the job will be run using the first shell available
from the following list:

• The value of the SHELL environment variable
• The user's login shell
• /bin/sh

However, jobs are actually always run using /bin/sh.

This update changes the behavior to use SHELL if it is defined, otherwise
/bin/sh. It works for Bourne-style shells (bash, sh, zsh, ksh, and ash),
but C-style shells (csh and tcsh) are unsupported due to their use of a
different syntax for setting environment variables.

In addition, the package's man page has been updated to reflect the
corrected behavior, and the warning message has been eliminated.

Users of "at" or "batch" that require the use of a shell other than /bin/sh
should update to these erratum packages, which resolve this issue.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

To update all RPMs for your particular architecture, run:

rpm -Fvh [filenames]

where [filenames] is a list of the RPMs you wish to upgrade. Only those
RPMs which are currently installed will be updated. Those RPMs which are
not installed but included in the list will not be updated. Note that you
can also use wildcards (*.rpm) if your current directory *only* contains the
desired RPMs.

Please note that this update is also available via Red Hat Network. Many
people find this an easier way to apply updates. To use Red Hat Network,
launch the Red Hat Update Agent with the following command:

up2date

This will start an interactive process that will result in the appropriate
RPMs being upgraded on your system.

If up2date fails to connect to Red Hat Network due to SSL
Certificate Errors, you need to install a version of the
up2date client with an updated certificate. The latest version of
up2date is available from the Red Hat FTP site and may also be
downloaded directly from the RHN website:

https://rhn.redhat.com/help/latest-up2date.pxt

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 2 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 ia64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 2 i386

Fixes

• BZ - 82857 - AT always runs jobs under /bin/sh despite warnings to the contrary.
• BZ - 91233 - batch command ignores $SHELL and user's login shell, always using /bin/sh

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)