Re: dpkg modification: non-interactivity
Kristoffer.Rose@ENS-Lyon.FR writes:
> > I have a proposal to also address this setup:
> >
> > Have a way to specify to dpkg which directories are from an
> > "already installed server". In that case, instead of installing files
> > in that directories, dpkg will just check that that files are already
> > there. A simple case is let dpkg just "do nothing" for that files,
> > assuming they are correctly installed.
>
> A conservative way of doing this would be to simply change dpkg as follows:
>
> If a file under /usr/share already exists and is identical to what dpkg
> would put there then dpkg should quietly not touch it!
>
> This would make it possible to share /usr/share, at least.
>
> It is harder to do in general. Take, for example, byte-compiled Emacs lisp
> files that are generated during postinst...but then again, it is possible
> in the longer run.
If you export the directories in the proper way, you can share
a remote /usr without problems. For instance, if all your machoens are
of the same arch, that's not a problem. If the server is, say, SPARC,
while the clients are i386, it is enough it the server exports, for
instance, /export/debian-i386/usr, while the i386 clients import
/usr. In this case, one of the clients will have permissions for
importing /export/debian-i386/usr rw, and will act as "installation
master", while the rest import it ro.
>
> > The rest of your proposal (postinst-interactive, "cookies",
> > etc.), matchs well this situation. In fact, it could probably be
> > autoamted with cfengine, for instance.
>
> Yes but I *do* prefer a conservative extension using just base debian
> tools, at least to start with.
Observe that automation is optional. You can always go machine
by machine, "reinstalling" everything with the cookies and the package
list. cfengine only helps to do it, if you want to use it... rsh/rcp
can also do the work, for instance.
Jesus.
--
Jesus M. Gonzalez Barahona | Departamento de Informatica
tel +3491 624 9458, fax +3491 624 9129 | Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
jgb@gsyc.inf.uc3m.es, jgb@computer.org | avd. Universidad, 30
Grupo de Sistemas y Comunicaciones | 28911 Leganes, Spain
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