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Botched npm Update Crashes Linux Systems, Forces Users to Reinstall (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by msmash on from the beware dept.

Catalin Cimpanu, reporting for BleepingComputer: A bug in npm (Node Package Manager), the most widely used JavaScript package manager, will change ownership of crucial Linux system folders, such as /etc, /usr, /boot. Changing ownership of these files either crashes the system, various local apps, or prevents the system from booting, according to reports from users who installed npm v5.7.0. -- the buggy npm update. Users who installed this update -- mostly developers and software engineers -- will likely have to reinstall their system from scratch or restore from a previous system image.

4 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Re: I remain of the opinion... by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Good luck with that. Having a packafing system for a language allows consistency across platforms. Otherwise you're at thw mercy of the platform team, or you have to maintain separate packages for platforms woth different release and maintenance cadences.

    --
    "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  2. Re:Rescue mode by Dracos · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The people most likely to be using npm, and an apparently untested bleeding-edge version of it that gets pushed out automagically (there's a separate bug that pushed out 5.7.0 prematurely), deserve this rancid dog food. This is incontrovertible proof that the JS community lacks competence and leadership.

  3. Re:LOL by shaitand · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The thing sucks so bad. I've had a few things that required npm... everyone pretends it's like apt or yum that grab everything you need if you install from a proper repo... npm has never gotten all the dependencies on a fresh clean host for any project I've installed.

  4. mtree(8) by MavEtJu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    NAME
              mtree -- map a directory hierarchy

    SYNOPSIS
              mtree [-LPUcdeinqruxw] [-f spec] [-f spec] [-K keywords] [-k keywords]
                          [-p path] [-s seed] [-X exclude-list]

    DESCRIPTION
              The mtree utility compares the file hierarchy rooted in the current
              directory against a specification read from the standard input. Mes-
              sages are written to the standard output for any files whose character-
              istics do not match the specifications, or which are missing from
              either the file hierarchy or the specification.

    --
    bash$ :(){ :|:&};: