Ensure the consistent setting of the HOME env variable on container start #18492

daw1012345 · 2023-05-05T19:45:08Z

Does this PR introduce a user-facing change?

Fixes an issue where the HOME environment variable would be configured inconsistently between container starts if a new passwd entry had to be created for the container

Description

Podman sets the HOME environment variable to the home directory of the user executing the podman command (if it is mounted) only if a new passwd entry has to be added on start. After a container restart, HOME is set to the home directory of the user configured with the --user flag.

Reproduction/Example

Impact

This impacts tools such as VSCode Dev Containers as they use this variable to decide where to place files (the vscode server in this case). This issue is particularly annoying for people using Dev Containers and toolbox as a restart causes VSCode to place the server in a different place, often /root where it does not have write permissions.

Solution

Set the HOME env variable on container creation, prioritized in the following order:

Existing HOME env variable
Home folder of the user executing the podman command
Home folder of the user specified with the --user flag

rhatdan · 2023-05-06T11:09:52Z

@n1hility @vrothberg @containers/podman-maintainers PTAL

giuseppe · 2023-05-08T08:17:04Z

I don't think we want to honor the home folder of the user executing the command. The order should be:

Existing HOME env variable
Home folder of the user specified with the --user flag

The issue with using the current user home directory is that the same command would have different behaviors on different machines. If you want to override the home directory, just specify it on the command line

Luap99

I agree with @giuseppe, it doesn't seem to make sense to set the home based on the user executing the command.

This seems to be a simple bug when the container is created with --userns keep-id -v $HOME:$HOME --user 0:0 so I think we should just fix that.

test/e2e/start_test.go

libpod/container_internal_common.go

daw1012345 · 2023-05-08T19:40:04Z

The issue with using the current user home directory is that the same command would have different behaviors on different machines. If you want to override the home directory, just specify it on the command line

This indeed makes more sense. I've adjusted the PR to reflect this - the home directory of the caller is no longer considered.

baude · 2023-05-09T12:45:13Z

libpod/container_internal_common.go

+		return execUser.Home, nil
+	}
+
+	// Ensure HOME is not already set in Env


does it make sense to move this and the stanza below "up"?

baude · 2023-05-09T12:46:17Z

libpod/container_internal_common.go

@@ -2432,6 +2426,46 @@ func (c *Container) generateCurrentUserPasswdEntry() (string, int, int, error) {
 	return pwd, uid, rootless.GetRootlessGID(), nil
 }

+// Sets the HOME Env variable with precedence: caller home, execUser home
+func (c *Container) setHomeEnvIfNeeded() error {


if this is only used once, can it just be inline?

I think a separate function is better.

baude · 2023-05-09T12:50:26Z

/approve

LGTM, small nits identified

libpod/container_internal_common.go

Luap99 · 2023-05-09T12:55:25Z

libpod/container_internal_common.go

@@ -2432,6 +2426,46 @@ func (c *Container) generateCurrentUserPasswdEntry() (string, int, int, error) {
 	return pwd, uid, rootless.GetRootlessGID(), nil
 }

+// Sets the HOME Env variable with precedence: caller home, execUser home
+func (c *Container) setHomeEnvIfNeeded() error {


I think a separate function is better.

…tart Signed-off-by: Dawid Kulikowski <git@dawidkulikowski.pl>

Luap99

/lgtm

openshift-ci · 2023-05-10T09:30:39Z

[APPROVALNOTIFIER] This PR is APPROVED

This pull-request has been approved by: baude, daw1012345, Luap99

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debarshiray · 2023-06-27T15:44:34Z

Kudos for adding the tests, @daw1012345 !

debarshiray · 2023-06-27T16:09:56Z

I arrived here from containers/toolbox#1296 Since this pull request explicitly mentions Toolbx, I thought that I would leave my doubt here as well for the sake of my future self and anybody else who might be following along.

Set the HOME env variable on container creation, prioritized in the
following order:
Existing HOME env variable
Home folder of the user executing the podman command
Home folder of the user specified with the --user flag
I don't think we want to honor the home folder of the user executing
the command. The order should be:
Existing HOME env variable
Home folder of the user specified with the --user flag

I don't understand what home folder of the user executing the podman command means. Are we talking about the user on the host who invoked podman create, podman start, etc.?

If so, wouldn't the HOME environment variable on the host be this user's home directory in the vast majority of cases? I don't understand how HOME is different from the home folder of the user executing the podman command.

Are you thinking of cases where someone might have (temporarily?) overridden HOME on the host to point to something other than their home directory for testing and such?

The issue with using the current user home directory is that the same
command would have different behaviors on different machines.

I don't understand this. HOME can also be different on different machines. How is HOME different from the current user home directory?

openshift-ci bot added the release-note label May 5, 2023

daw1012345 force-pushed the main branch 4 times, most recently from 815d3ce to fd72b13 Compare May 6, 2023 08:27

Luap99 requested changes May 8, 2023

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daw1012345 force-pushed the main branch 2 times, most recently from 78bcbef to 4892f7f Compare May 8, 2023 18:17

daw1012345 mentioned this pull request May 8, 2023

Set the HOME env variable to be consistent with the used home directory containers/toolbox#1296

Open

daw1012345 requested a review from Luap99 May 9, 2023 07:12

baude reviewed May 9, 2023

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openshift-ci bot added the approved Indicates a PR has been approved by an approver from all required OWNERS files. label May 9, 2023

Luap99 reviewed May 9, 2023

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Ensure the consistent setting of the HOME env variable on container s…

01e2081

…tart Signed-off-by: Dawid Kulikowski <git@dawidkulikowski.pl>

daw1012345 force-pushed the main branch from 4892f7f to 01e2081 Compare May 9, 2023 14:34

daw1012345 requested a review from Luap99 May 9, 2023 14:35

Luap99 approved these changes May 10, 2023

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openshift-merge-robot merged commit 7a5daa0 into containers:main May 10, 2023

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Ensure the consistent setting of the HOME env variable on container start #18492

Ensure the consistent setting of the HOME env variable on container start #18492

daw1012345 commented May 5, 2023

rhatdan commented May 6, 2023

giuseppe commented May 8, 2023

Luap99 left a comment

daw1012345 commented May 8, 2023

baude May 9, 2023

baude May 9, 2023

Luap99 May 9, 2023

baude commented May 9, 2023

Luap99 May 9, 2023

Luap99 left a comment

openshift-ci bot commented May 10, 2023

debarshiray commented Jun 27, 2023

debarshiray commented Jun 27, 2023 •

edited

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Ensure the consistent setting of the HOME env variable on container start #18492

Ensure the consistent setting of the HOME env variable on container start #18492

Conversation

daw1012345 commented May 5, 2023

Does this PR introduce a user-facing change?

Description

Reproduction/Example

Impact

Solution

rhatdan commented May 6, 2023

giuseppe commented May 8, 2023

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daw1012345 commented May 8, 2023

baude May 9, 2023

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baude commented May 9, 2023

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openshift-ci bot commented May 10, 2023

debarshiray commented Jun 27, 2023

debarshiray commented Jun 27, 2023 • edited Loading

debarshiray commented Jun 27, 2023 •

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