smartmontools: update-smart-drivedb uses outdated curl version from /usr/bin/curl

[term-i-nator]

smartmontools: update-smart-drivedb – pull request...?

By default update-smart-drivedb uses the (outdated) mac version of curl under /usr/bin/curl even if the latest version is installed via homebrew (/usr/local/opt/curl/bin/curl). Christian Franke from smartmontools suggested to open a pull request at homebrew to add the line

--with-scriptpath='/usr/local/opt/curl/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin'

to

https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/master/Formula/smartmontools.rb

I don't know how to open a correct pull request and I don't have the time to learn how to do it now. Could anyone please open a pull request?

Thanks in advance!

[carlocab]

Why do you need the latest version of curl for smartmontools? macOS ships a relatively new version of curl, so unless smartmontools has very particular requirements, the Apple-provided curl should suit.

Does smartmontools not check your PATH to find curl?

[term-i-nator]

The macOS (Monterey 12.4) version of curl is 7.79.1 while the homebrew version is 7.84.0. It's not that far behind, but as always, it's recommended to use the latest version of any application due to security fixes etc. If there's a newer version installed, why not use it?

In my PATH and even in root's PATH the homebrew version is prefered (which curl => /usr/local/opt/curl/bin/curl), but update-smart-drivedb still uses /usr/bin/curl. As a temporary fix I added the line export PATH="/usr/local/opt/curl/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin" at the beginning of the script /usr/local/Cellar/smartmontools/7.3/bin/update-smart-drivedb. Christian Franke from smartmontools suggested to add the line in smarmontools.rb as stated in my first post, so my temporary fix would be permanent.

[SMillerDev]

I think a better fix is if the tool respected $PATH instead of Homebrew hardcoding a $PATH into the application.

[carlocab]

Why doesn't update-smart-drivedb respect the caller's PATH when it runs?

It seems more appropriate to me to fix update-smart-drivedb so that it does that, instead of hard-coding a PATH that could be wrong or inappropriate for some uses.

Of course, that solution seems preferable to me because I don't understand the reasons why update-smart-drivedb determines its PATH at build-time instead of at run-time, so finding this out would probably be good.

Edit: Oh, this is exactly @SMillerDev's point above. Didn't see it while I was typing my comment.

[term-i-nator]

You're right (all of you). Hardcoding a PATH is never a good idea. That's why I first contacted the development team of smartmontools. They suggested to insert the line above into smartmontools.rb. I have no idea, why update-smart-drivedb doesn't respect my PATH. I call this script from a weekly script (not cron) under my own account, so my PATH should be used.

[Bo98]

Looks like we can pass --with-scriptpath=no and it should take the PATH.

[samm-git]

--with-scriptpath=no is fore sure will solve topicstarter problem, from security standpoint not sure what is better, may be as an old-school person i prefer to have fixed path. But i am not opiniated on that, whatever option would work.