RHBA-2013:1669 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated perl-Config-General packages that fix several bugs and add various
enhancements are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The Config::General Perl module is able to parse and write configuration files
and presents an object-oriented access to their data. In addition, the
Config::General module is 100% read-compatible with Apache configuration files,
though it is also possible to create and access simple name/value configuration
files. Certain enhancements such as here-documents, C-style comments and
multi-line options are also available.

The perl-Config-General package has been upgraded to upstream version 2.52,
which provides a number of bug fixes and enhancements over the previous version.
The most significant of these changes are the following:

• When the Config::General module was supplied a directory instead of a

configuration file, the module silently accepted it and returned an empty
configuration hash. After this update, the module now calls the croak() function
if the configuration file parameter is a directory and the "directory include"
option is not turned on.

• Parsing now accepts white spaces after the block closing character ">".
• The save_file() function and a named block, whose second part starts with a

slash character (/), now can be used to write valid configurations to a file
correctly."

• With this update, the sort() function is no longer used on arrays if the

"-SaveSorted" option is turned off.

• A character escaping bug has been fixed. Escaping the dollar "$" or the

backslash "\" characters is now handled correctly.

• A tied hash now remains tied when saving to a file.
• Preserving the single quotes during a variable interpolation has been

corrected. An incrementor is now used to mark single quotes instead of using the
rand() function.

• Empty configuration values are no longer handed over to interpreting methods.
• The "-Plug" parameter, which introduces plugin closures, has been added to the

perl-Config-General packages.

• The "-NoEscape" switch, which turns off escaping of every character, has been

added to the perl-Config-General packages.

• The parameters "-NormalizeOption", "-NormalizeBlock" and "-NormalizeValue",

which take a subroutine reference and change a block, option or value
accordingly, have been added to the perl-Config-General packages.

• A new option "-AllowSingleQuoteInterpolation", which turns on interpolation

for variables inside single quotes, has been added to the perl-Config-General
packages.

• A new option "-ForceArray" has been added to the perl-Config-General packages.

When enabled, a single configuration value enclosed in square brackets "[ ]"
will become an array forcefully.

With this upgraded perl-Config-General package, users can write and process
their configuration files more efficiently. (BZ#658946)

Users of perl-Config-General are advised to upgrade to these updated packages,
which fix these bugs and add these enhancements.

Solution

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

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/site/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension 6 i386

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)