Re: lots of dpkg ideas for discussion (was Re: GCC frepo (continue))
Craig Sanders writes ("Re: lots of dpkg ideas for discussion (was Re: GCC frepo (continue))"):
...
> Extracting the status line is easy. finding where the files are located
> isn't so easy.
You can get dselect to find the files for you.
> maybe it's simpler to just leave the job of finding where the files are to
> dselect...
>
> it's still not clear what fields are actually needed by dpkg - if I do
> something like:
> [ hacky stuff deleted ]
> for obvious reasons, i'm a bit reluctant to experiment with the live
> data in /var/lib/dpkg on my working system, so i have a few questions...
Just as well.
> If i take this output and copy it to /var/lib/dpkg/status on a machine
> which has just had base installed, then what will dselect do with it?
> Will it get the remaining information (Version, Section etc) next time
> [U]pdate is run?
No.
> How will dselect handle the fact that the "install" keyword is there
> on the Status: line, but nothing else)? Is that acceptable/normal to
> dselect?
No.
You must do exactly what I said: copy only the first word of the
Status field of each package's entry, and replace the first word of
the corresponding entry on the other system. The first word is the
`desired state' as set by dselect's selection interface and used by
the [I]nstall option.
If there isn't an entry for a package you want then make one like
this:
Package: whatever
Status: install ok not-installed
Ian.
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