MIR xdg-terminal-exec

[Nathan Teodosio]

[Availability]
The package xdg-terminal-exec is already in Ubuntu universe.
The package xdg-terminal-exec build for the architectures it is designed to work on.
It currently builds and works for architectures: "all"
Link to package https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdg-terminal-exec

[Rationale]
- The package xdg-terminal-exec is required in Ubuntu
  main for compliance with the emerging XDG specification,
  https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/terminal-wg/specifications/-/merge_requests/3.
- The package xdg-terminal-exec will generally be useful for a large part of
  our user base
- Package xdg-terminal-exec covers the same use case as x-terminal-emulator,
  but is better because it allows setting the default terminal for a particular
  user (instead of system-wide), and xdg-terminal-exec ought to be configured
  to be the terminal used for .desktop files that set Terminal=true too,
  thereby we want to replace it.
- There is no other/better way to solve this that is already in main or
  should go universe->main instead of this.
- The binary package xdg-terminal-exec needs to be in main to ensure full
  and committed support for such a central piece for the Ubuntu desktop

- It would be great and useful to community/processes to have the
  package xdg-terminal-exec in Ubuntu main, but there is no definitive deadline.

[Security]
- No CVEs/security issues in this software in the past
- No `suid` or `sgid` binaries
- No executables in `/sbin` and `/usr/sbin`
- Package does not install services, timers or recurring jobs
- Packages does not open privileged ports (ports < 1024).
- Package does not expose any external endpoints
- Packages does not contain extensions to security-sensitive software
  (filters, scanners, plugins, UI skins, ...)

[Quality assurance - function/usage]
- The package works well right after install

[Quality assurance - maintenance]
- The package is maintained well in Debian/Ubuntu/Upstream and does
  not have too many, long-term & critical, open bugs
  - Ubuntu https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xdg-terminal-exec/+bug
  - Debian https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=xdg-terminal-exec
  - Upstream's bug tracker, e.g., GitHub Issues
    https://github.com/Vladimir-csp/xdg-terminal-exec/issues
- The package does not deal with exotic hardware we cannot support

[Quality assurance - testing]
- The package runs a test suite on build time, if it fails
  it makes the build fail, link to build log[1].

- The package runs an autopkgtest, and is currently passing on
  all Ubuntu architectures, link to test logs[2]

- The package does have not failing autopkgtests right now

[Quality assurance - packaging]
- debian/watch is present and works

- debian/control defines a correct Maintainer field

- This package does not yield massive lintian Warnings, Errors
  Please link to a recent build log of the package[1]
- Please attach the full output you have got from
   `lintian --pedantic` as an extra post to this bug.
- Lintian overrides are not present

- This package does not rely on obsolete or about to be demoted packages.
- This package has no python2 or GTK2 dependencies

- The package will be installed by default, but does not ask debconf
  questions higher than medium

- Packaging and build is easy, link to debian/rules[3]

[UI standards]
- Application is not end-user facing (does not need translation)

- End-user applications without desktop file, not needed because not a desktop application.

[Dependencies]

- No further depends or recommends dependencies that are not yet in main

[Standards compliance]
- This package correctly follows FHS and Debian Policy

[Maintenance/Owner]
- I suggest the owning team to be the desktop team
- The future owning team is not yet subscribed, but will subscribe to
  the package before promotion

- This does not use static builds

- This does not use vendored code

- This package is not rust based

- The package was rebuilt in Launchpad recently[1].

[Background information]
The Package description explains the package well
Upstream Name is xdg-terminal-exec
Link to upstream project https://github.com/Vladimir-csp/xdg-terminal-exec

https://manpages.debian.org/xdg-terminal-exec

[1] https://launchpadlibrarian.net/734808252/buildlog_ubuntu-oracular-amd64.xdg-terminal-exec_0.10.0-1_BUILDING.txt.gz
[2] https://autopkgtest.ubuntu.com/packages/xdg-terminal-exec
[3] https://salsa.debian.org/freedesktop-team/xdg-terminal-exec/-/raw/debian/master/debian/rules?ref_type=heads

[Seth Arnold (seth-arnold)]

I'm curious if a config change in xdg-utils is all that's needed to get something similar:

$ locate xdg-terminal x/xdg-utils
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.1-1ubuntu1/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.1-1ubuntu1/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.1-1ubuntu1.16.04.5/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.1-1ubuntu1.16.04.5/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.2-1ubuntu2/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.2-1ubuntu2/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.2-1ubuntu2.5/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.2-1ubuntu2.5/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-2ubuntu1/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-2ubuntu1/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-2ubuntu1.20.04.2/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-2ubuntu1.20.04.2/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-4.1ubuntu1/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-4.1ubuntu1/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-4.1ubuntu3/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-4.1ubuntu3/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-4.1ubuntu3~22.04.1/scripts/xdg-terminal.in
/newsrv/trees/ubuntu/main/x/xdg-utils/xdg-utils_1.1.3-4.1ubuntu3~22.04.1/scripts/desc/xdg-terminal.xml

Thanks

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

I don't know why but xdg-utils upstream does not install the xdg-terminal script. It is also not listed in the list of tools provided by xdg-utils in the README.md at https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils

For reference, Fedora does not go out of its way to install xdg-terminal either:
https://koji.fedoraproject.org/koji/rpminfo?rpmID=37977002

glib2.0 does have explicit support for xdg-terminal-exec and Ubuntu Desktop wants to proceed with using xdg-terminal-exec rather than the older xdg-terminal.

https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/glib/-/blob/glib-2-80/gio/gdesktopappinfo.c#L2695

[Lukas Märdian (slyon)]

Review for Source Package: xdg-terminal-exec

[Summary]
xdg-terminal-exec is a generic wrapper around launching a default terminal. That
is on a per-user level, rather than system-wide (think x-terminal-emulator alternative).
It's the reference implementation of Freedesktop's "Default Terminal Execution" [spec],
written in shell script. It has a long history and seems to be well maintained.
There is also "xdg-terminal" upstream implementation, which is not currently packaged
as part of xdg-utils.

[spec] https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/terminal-wg/specifications/-/merge_requests/3

MIR team ACK under the constraint to resolve the below listed
required TODOs and as much as possible having a look at the
recommended TODOs.

This does need a security review, so I'll assign ubuntu-security

List of specific binary packages to be promoted to main: xdg-terminal-exec
Specific binary packages built, but NOT to be promoted to main: <None>

Notes:
#0 - I'm signing it up for security review because this is a big shell script,
     parsing configs and launching terminals.
Required TODOs:
#1 - Please swap the "xterm | x-terminal-emulator" Depends
     to avoid a false-positive component-mismatch, due to xterm not being in "main"
Recommended TODOs:
#2 - The package should get a team bug subscriber before being promoted
#3 - consider using mitigation features (e.g. apparmor) to restrict the threat vectors
#4 - please try to find out what's the plan for xdg-utils/xdg-terminal, see comment #2
     => do we expect this to be a thing in the future? That would lead to duplication in main,
        as xdg-utils is currently in main.

[Rationale, Duplication and Ownership]
OK:
- A team is committed to own long term maintenance of this package. (~desktop-packages)
- The rationale given in the report seems valid and useful for Ubuntu

Problems:
- There are other packages in main providing the same/similar functionality.
  => x-terminal-emulator (virtual package)
  => xdg-utils/xdg-terminal

[Dependencies]
OK:
- no other Dependencies to MIR due to this
  - SRCPKG checked with `check-mir`
  - all dependencies can be found in `seeded-in-ubuntu` (already in main)
  - none of the (potentially auto-generated) dependencies (Depends
    and Recommends) that are present after build are not in main
- no -dev/-debug/-doc packages that need exclusion
- No dependencies in main that are only superficially tested requiring
  more tests now.

Problems:
- Please swap the "xterm | x-terminal-emulator" Depends to avoid a false-positive component-mismatch, due to xterm not being in "main"

[Embedded sources and static linking]
OK:
- no embedded source present
- no static linking
- does not have unexpected Built-Using entries
- not a go package, no extra constraints to consider in that regard
- not a rust package, no extra constraints to consider in that regard
- Does not include vendored code

Problems: None

[Security]
OK:
- history of CVEs does not look concerning
- does not run a daemon as root
- does not use webkit1,2
- does not use lib*v8 directly
- does not expose any external endpoint (port/socket/... or similar)
- does not process arbitrary web content
- does not use centralized o...

[Nathan Teodosio (nteodosio)]

> #4 - please try to find out what's the plan for xdg-utils/xdg-terminal, see comment #2

https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xdg/xdg-utils/-/issues/241 suggests that xdg-utils/xdg-terminal it is not going anywhere and that xdg-utils/xdg-terminal even considers deferring to xdg-terminal-exec.