Issued:
2012-10-04
Updated:
2013-02-20

RHBA-2012:1339 - file bug fix update

Synopsis

file bug fix update

Type/Severity

Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated file packages that fix multiple bugs are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

The "file" command is used to identify a particular file according to the type of data contained in the file. The command can identify various file types, including ELF binaries, system libraries, RPM packages, and different graphics formats.

This update fixes the following bugs:

  • The file utility did not contain a "magic" pattern for detecting QED images and was therefore not able to detect such images. A new "magic" pattern for detecting QED images has been added, and the file utility now detects these images as expected. (BZ#795425)

  • The file utility did not contain a "magic" pattern for detecting VDI images and was therefore not able to detect such images. A new "magic" pattern for detecting VDI images has been added, and the file utility now detects these images as expected. (BZ#795761)

  • Previously, the file utility did not attempt to load "magic" patterns from the ~/.magic.mgc file, which caused "magic" patterns stored in this file to be unusable. This update modifies the file utility so it now attempts to load the ~/.magic.mgc file. The file is loaded if it exists and "magic" patterns defined in this file work as expected. (BZ#797784)

  • Previously, the file utility used read timeout when decompressing files using the "-z" option. As a consequence, the utility was not able to detect files compressed by the bzip2 tool. The underlying source code has been modified so that file no longer uses read timeout when decompressing compressed files. Compressed files are now detected as expected when using the "-z" option. (BZ#801711)

  • Previously, the file utility contained multiple "magic" patterns to detect output of the "dump" backup tool. On big-endian architectures, the less detailed "magic" pattern was used and output of the file utility was inconsistent. The less detailed "magic" pattern has been removed, and only one, more detailed, "magic" pattern to detect "dump" output is used now. (BZ#859834)

All users of file are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix these bugs.

Solution

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

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

Affected Products

ProductVersionArch
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian6ppc64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Retired Extended Life Cycle Support6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension6i386
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support Extension (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems)6s390x
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6x86_64
Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop6i386

Updated Packages

  • file-static-5.04-15.el6.i686.rpm
  • file-devel-5.04-15.el6.i686.rpm
  • file-devel-5.04-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • file-debuginfo-5.04-15.el6.ppc.rpm
  • file-debuginfo-5.04-15.el6.s390.rpm
  • file-libs-5.04-15.el6.s390x.rpm
  • python-magic-5.04-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • file-devel-5.04-15.el6.s390.rpm
  • file-5.04-15.el6.src.rpm
  • file-debuginfo-5.04-15.el6.i686.rpm
  • file-devel-5.04-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • file-debuginfo-5.04-15.el6.s390x.rpm
  • file-libs-5.04-15.el6.ppc.rpm
  • python-magic-5.04-15.el6.s390x.rpm
  • file-static-5.04-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • python-magic-5.04-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • file-libs-5.04-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • python-magic-5.04-15.el6.i686.rpm
  • file-devel-5.04-15.el6.s390x.rpm
  • file-debuginfo-5.04-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • file-libs-5.04-15.el6.s390.rpm
  • file-5.04-15.el6.s390x.rpm
  • file-devel-5.04-15.el6.ppc.rpm
  • file-static-5.04-15.el6.s390x.rpm
  • file-static-5.04-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • file-5.04-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • file-libs-5.04-15.el6.x86_64.rpm
  • file-5.04-15.el6.i686.rpm
  • file-libs-5.04-15.el6.i686.rpm
  • file-debuginfo-5.04-15.el6.ppc64.rpm
  • file-5.04-15.el6.ppc64.rpm

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)

Additional information