getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do it

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littlenoodles

getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do it

Post by littlenoodles »

I've been unable to use vpnc to access my company's Cisco VPN, because it didn't handle the handshake for 2-factor authentication. At the point in the handshake where it was supposed to prompt for a token-generated secondary password, I'd get this error: xauth packet unsupported: (ISAKMP_N_ATTRIBUTES_NOT_SUPPORTED)(13).

Googling for this produced a post from March, 2013 mailing list from a guy who came up with a 2-line patch that fixed it. I downloaded the source, applied the patch and it works. So, assuming he submitted that patch to the maintainers, how come it's not been incorporated yet?

So, I guess my question is about process? I didn't come up with the patch, so I assume I probably shouldn't be resubmitting it. And maybe it's not a 'clean' fix - but it does work. Would a distro like Mint ever include a patched version of a project that, for whatever reason, isn't accepting the patch - perhaps as an alternate 'use at your own risk' version?

One other thing. Obviously my stock Mint install was missing a bunch of dev packages needed to build this thing from the patched source. Took quite a bit of googling to find a ubuntu post that told me how to use apt-get to resolve the build dependencies - after futzing around and loading a bunch of things manually based on the make error messages. It might be nice if there were a sticky item in this forum about how to get a package source from the repository and configure your system to be able to build the package from the source (or a link to a good tutorial - which I'm sure is out there somewhere).

Thanks,
Rob
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xenopeek
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Re: getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do

Post by xenopeek »

If that was your first encounter with compiling from source on Linux Mint, good on you for sticking with getting it done and finding the patch in the first place!

vpnc package on Linux Mint comes from the Ubuntu package base, so I'd say it's unlikely that Linux Mint will start maintaining a fork of the vpnc package but it may be worth reporting it to the Ubuntu package maintainer. You can view other bugs for it or report a new one here: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/vpnc/+bugs (you could find that link in the package description). Package maintainers do sometimes indeed apply patches downstream, if the originating project doesn't patch something and it is deemed important enough for their user base.

As for compiling something from the repository from source;
  1. sudo apt-get install build-essential
    Get the minimum compiler toolchain installed.
  2. Open Software Sources and Enable source code repositories.
    This allows for downloading source packages.
  3. sudo apt-get build-dep vpnc
    Attempts to install all the build time dependencies to compile the package from source code.
  4. apt-get source vpnc
    Download the source code of the package into the current directory.
  5. dpkg-source -x vpnc_0.5.3r512-2ubuntu1.dsc
    Unpack the source code using the downloaded .dsc file in the current directory.
  6. cd vpnc-0.5.3r512
    Change directory to the newly created source code directory.
  7. Apply your patches and/or change compilation options.
  8. dpkg-buildpackage -rfakeroot -uc -b
    Compile the package from the modified source code directory.
  9. cd ..
    Go one directory level up, and here you will find your newly created package.
  10. sudo dpkg -i vpnc_0.5.3r512-2ubuntu1_amd64.deb
    Install the created package.
Needs some rework to generalize the steps, but I hope this matches with what you did. I agree it would be useful to create a sticky topic for that (Googling for a solution didn't give me a single page to get above information from).
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littlenoodles

Re: getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do

Post by littlenoodles »

I did the build-essntial, add source repos and build-dep vpnc bits when I found a ubuntu doc about them after I'd already dicked around with the source as downloaded from some ubuntu site where I had found it. I didn't build and install the package, since vpnc is a simple executable, and so far I'm fine just running my compiled binary where make left it.

Your steps are nice and concise, though. Much better. Thanks.

Also, submitted the patch to the ubuntu maintainer's link. Fingers crossed that when Mint 18 comes along, I won't have to re-patch this.
PatH57

Re: getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do

Post by PatH57 »

remember a bug like this 2 or 3 years ago but release vpnc package 0.5.3r512 had fixed it (also I only saw it on unpatched cisco vpn)
I now believe that this bug was indeed fixed upstream as part of the "Next Code" support?
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xenopeek
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Re: getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do

Post by xenopeek »

Thanks for the feedback littlenoodles. I've stickied a new tutorial on the forum for this here: http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=178574. Also added it to the community website: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1822. Hope the patch makes it in :wink:
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littlenoodles

Re: getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do

Post by littlenoodles »

I contacted the guy who produced the patch, and apparently it was accepted a while back. But ubuntu/mint/debian (not sure who's decision that is) is still on release 0.5.3r512. The patch is in r527. Here's hoping...
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xenopeek
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Re: getting a bugfix incorporated if the project doesn't do

Post by xenopeek »

For this package it comes straight from the Ubuntu package base--so on Linux Mint you use the version as on Ubuntu (from the same repository). That can be a bit confusing in these case (who has to apply the patch), but at least good to know you likely won't have to reapply the patch.
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