[DRE-maint] Bug#596351: Error appears to be in JSON library, not ohai

[Joshua Timberman]

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The error appears to be with json, not with ohai. With the version 1.1.9 libjson-ruby package installed:

irb(main):001:0> l="\370"
=> "\370"
irb(main):002:0> require 'json'
=> true
irb(main):003:0> l.to_json
JSON::GeneratorError: partial character in source, but hit end
        from (irb):3:in `to_json'
        from (irb):3
        from :0

With the package removed, and the 1.4.6 (latest) json gem installed:

irb(main):001:0> l="\370"
=> "\370"
irb(main):002:0> require 'rubygems'
=> true
irb(main):003:0> require 'json'
=> true
irb(main):004:0> l.to_json
=> "\"\370\""

This is completely independent of ohai, as it wasn't even installed on the test system. 

I tested every version of the JSON gem from 1.1.9 to 1.4.6. The fix for this bug occurs somewhere between 1.2.4 and 1.4.0, though I'm not familiar with the codebase, so I don't know what change resolves this issue.

The JSON gem has a history of issues, and while it seems that 1.1.9 may otherwise be stable, it is a year old and has a lot of improvements. So far I have not seen any issues with version 1.4.6, in ohai or otherwise. I hope that Debian can make an exception for getting the latest version into Squeeze. As the package maintainer for ohai, I don't think that patching ohai to workaround this bug is appropriate.
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