Re: Debian-Alpha port ideas...please read (long)
In article <[🔎] Pine.LNX.3.96.971030155010.29639A-100000@beezer.med.miami.edu>,
Christopher C Chimelis <chris@beezer.med.miami.edu> wrote:
>
>On 30 Oct 1997, Miquel van Smoorenburg wrote:
>
>> When I created the first Debian/Alpha dist, I had very much the same
>> problem as lots of packages depended on libc5 (still hardcoded then) and
>> the Alpha used libc6. What I did then was to create "dummy" packages
>> that depended upon the real package. You can do this now again, and even
>> better as we now have Pre-Depends which makes it easier.
>
><examples deleted>
>
>> After all other packages have been fixed to Depend: on the new libreadlineg,
>> the dummy package can be removed without any problems since nothing depends
>> on it anymore.
>> AFAICS, this will ensure a smooth transition.
>
>This is a good idea as long as we make sure to keep track of what our
>dummy packages are. I just don't want to go through this all over again
>when/if the next interface change to glibc is handed down. That's why I
>was mentioning "fixing" things permanently so they can be more multi-arch
>friendly while retaining backward-compat libs IF and WHEN they are
>necessary. I just lack the patience or time to make those modifications.
I can see that. One way to get rid of the dummy packages is to introduce
a new field into dpkg, that tells dpkg to mark the package for deletion
if nothing dpends on it anymore. That is actually very useful for all
architectures, on my i586 I have a lot of packages providing some shared
library hanging around which aren't used by any package anymore..
Mike.
--
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