Re: Malformed Release File
On Thu, Mar 21, 2002 at 07:44:57AM -0800, Matt Kraai wrote:
> pkgdetails already parses wget's output and passes progress
> information directly to the boot-floppies, so I don't see how
> also returning error messages is breaking new ground.
Well, realise that I'm the author, and I'm not convinced of this at all.
> It seems more robust for debootstrap to return a meaningful
> error message, rather than the boot-floppies having to guess why
> it failed.
debootstrap doesn't return a meaningful error message: that it couldn't
get a valid release file. The wording could probably be improved, but
that's a meaningful description of the problem. Randomly returning, eg,
"02:36:06 ERROR 404: Not Found." isn't particularly reliable, IMO.
The alternative, which I'd like you to actually consider, is to have
boot-floppies actually attempt to download the Release file itself in
advance of calling debootstrap for http/ftp. This isn't particularly hard,
you just need to call wget, and, if you want, parse the output. It lets
you just issue an error message as soon as they enter a mirror that says
"hey, I can't get to your mirror", rather than having to backtrack after
calling debootstrap.
Cheers,
aj
--
Anthony Towns <aj@humbug.org.au> <http://azure.humbug.org.au/~aj/>
I don't speak for anyone save myself. GPG signed mail preferred.
``Debian: giving you the power to shoot yourself in each
toe individually.'' -- with kudos to Greg Lehey
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