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Add --set-home to sudo invocation #902

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mkenigs
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@mkenigs mkenigs commented Mar 27, 2024

It is assumed that dirs::home_dir() refers to root's home directory.
This is used, for example, to setup a root profile with nix-env in
SetupDefaultProfile.

dirs::home_dir() is derived from $HOME, but on macOS, by default
sudo does not set $HOME to root's home unless
--set-home is passed.

> sudo bash -c 'echo $HOME'
/Users/matthew
> sudo --set-home bash -c 'echo $HOME'
/var/root

Pass --set-home to the sudo invocation so that $HOME is always
set, regardless of the system's security policy.

It is assumed that `dirs::home_dir()` refers to root's home directory.
This is used, for example, to setup a root profile with nix-env in
`SetupDefaultProfile`.

`dirs::home_dir()` is derived from `$HOME`, but on macOS, by default
`sudo` does not set `$HOME` to root's home unless
`--set-home` is passed.

```
> sudo bash -c 'echo $HOME'
/Users/matthew
> sudo --set-home bash -c 'echo $HOME'
/var/root
```

Pass `--set-home` to the `sudo` invocation so that `$HOME` is always
set, regardless of the system's security policy.
@cole-h
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cole-h commented Apr 5, 2024

Diff LGTM, just tested and seems to behave fine!

However, I am curious: what's the benefit of doing this? When will having the wrong HOME cause issues? As far as I can tell, the upstream Nix installer also doesn't use --set-home.

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mkenigs commented Apr 5, 2024

The issue is that the nix profile will be set up for the current user rather than root.

Upstream explicitly sets HOME="$ROOT_HOME" where ROOT_HOME is set to ~root https://github.com/NixOS/nix/blob/74130fd1f12f7f0e941c5e352fe19811583fe6e3/scripts/install-multi-user.sh#L850

And here there's HOME set to dirs::home_dir()

I'm not quite sure what ~root does, maybe check in /etc/passwd? I guess that would be another approach.

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cole-h commented Apr 5, 2024

Gotcha, I missed that -- OK, that makes sense. Thanks, added to the batch in #922.

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mkenigs commented Apr 5, 2024

Thanks!

@cole-h cole-h mentioned this pull request Apr 5, 2024
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@cole-h cole-h closed this in #922 Apr 5, 2024
@cole-h cole-h added this to the 0.18.0 milestone Apr 15, 2024
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2 participants