perldoc does not generate doc properly if run as root and file is not world readable

[daniel4andre]

If I have a file (in fact a script that uses Pod::Usage to generate man page) that can be read only by root (mode is 0700), perldoc can't generate documentation:
perldoc bar.pod Error while formatting with Pod::Perldoc::ToTerm: Can't open bar.pod: Permission denied at /usr/share/perl/5.26/Pod/Perldoc/ToTerm.pm line 113.
I get a similar result if directory is readable only by root.

If run by root, privileges are dropped and the file or directory cannot be accessed.

[jkeenan]

If I have a file (in fact a script that uses Pod::Usage to generate man page) that can be read only by root (mode is 0700), perldoc can't generate documentation:
perldoc bar.pod Error while formatting with Pod::Perldoc::ToTerm: Can't open bar.pod: Permission denied at /usr/share/perl/5.26/Pod/Perldoc/ToTerm.pm line 113.
I get a similar result if directory is readable only by root.

If run by root, privileges are dropped and the file or directory cannot be accessed.

For several reasons, I don't think this is a valid bug report for the Perl 5 core distribution.

1. While both Pod::Usage and Pod::Perldoc::ToTerm are shipped with the Perl 5 core distribution, the distributions which contain them are maintained upstream on CPAN. Hence, the proper place to file a bug report would be at their listed bug trackers:

https://metacpan.org/release/Pod-Perldoc -> https://rt.cpan.org/Dist/Display.html?Name=Pod-Perldoc

https://metacpan.org/pod/Pod::Usage -> https://metacpan.org/pod/Pod::Usage

2. Using Pod::Usage to write man pages is probably stretching it well beyond its intended use. On the face of it, Pod::Man would seem to be a more obvious choice for that task.

3. Have you read the parts of perldoc perldoc which pertain to SECURITY? The perldoc utility is part of the Pod-Perldoc CPAN distribution, and its own POD documentation provides a good overall guide to usage of that distribution. I don't claim any particular expertise here, but what you're doing as root sounds suspect. If you really must run as root, then you should thoroughly explore both the code and documentation in these CPAN distributions.

Thank you very much.
Jim Keenan

[daniel4andre]

Thank you for your comment. As I can understand the first two points, why do you say that root can't run 'protected_script --man' to see the documentation?

As I understand, Pod::Man is used to generate nroff formatted man pages. I use Pod::Usage in my script to generate usage information and man page as suggested in Pod::Usage documentation along with Getop::Long:
myscript --help # for brief usage message myscript --help # for full man page piped to default pager

[jkeenan]

Thank you for your comment. As I can understand the first two points, why do you say that root can't run 'protected_script --man' to see the documentation?

As I understand, Pod::Man is used to generate nroff formatted man pages. I use Pod::Usage in my script to generate usage information and man page as suggested in Pod::Usage documentation along with Getop::Long: myscript --help # for brief usage message myscript --help # for full man page piped to default pager

The upstream maintainers of the Pod-Perldoc and Pod-Usage distribution are better equipped to respond to these questions than I am. I'm closing this ticket and urging you to open tickets in those upstream bug trackers (as I recommended in point #1 back in 2020).