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Re: util-linux: dropping cfdisk-udeb, switching to ncurses



Hi,

Andreas Henriksson <andreas@fatal.se> (2015-07-28):
> Now that D-I Stretch Alpha 1 seems to have been released I think it's
> time to poke some life into this thread again...
> 
> I'd like to upload the util-linux version currently sitting in
> experimental to unstable as soon as you find approve.
> 
> As a reminder, the original reason for me contacting you is the
> dropping of the cfdisk-udeb (since ncursesw5 does not have an udeb and
> the ncurses maintainer would like to avoid adding it unless there is a
> real need for one).

ACK.

> On Thu, Jun 04, 2015 at 10:25:49AM +0200, Cyril Brulebois wrote:
> > Steve McIntyre <steve@einval.com> (2015-06-04):
> [...]
> > > I don't think we use it at all *anyway*...
> > 
> > Having had a quick look, it seems we only depend on fdisk-udeb in
> > some components (lilo-installer, rescue-mode).

Looking again, I don't see any hits on cfdisk-udeb, only fdisk-udeb.
Let's go over our source packages.

lilo-installer:
===============

Calls sfdisk in postinst, hence the dependency.


partitioner:
============

Generates its dependency fields this way:
| ifeq ($(ARCH),mips)
|         dh_gencontrol -- -Vfdisk:Depends=fdisk-udeb
| else ifeq ($(ARCH),m68k)
|         dh_gencontrol -- -Vfdisk:Depends="atari-fdisk-udeb, mac-fdisk-udeb"
| endif

It seems to heavily call *disk command, see:
  main.c
  scripts/common.sh
  scripts/mips.sh


rescue:
=======

Assuming almost nobody is going to cry over lilo-installer, let's look
at rescue-mode. The dependency was introduced by:
  http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/d-i/rescue.git/commit/?id=d7405ee44aae324a24d562898780b834ae8e94fd

(even if it seems the changelog entry has a typo and refers to
fdisk-utils instead of fdisk-udeb in the control file.)

The idea is to have most tools around just in case, no direct usage
AFAICT.


> Even if it's been unused in the past I'd also like to point out that
> you should please also look at future possibilities.
> 
> The updated version of util-linux now brings significantly improved
> *fdisk utilities which should each and all hopefully serve all your
> modern partitioning needs. (If not, please speak up about what you're
> missing. Preferrably directly on the upstream mailing list.)
> 
> (As I understand it you're currently mainly using parted. I'm not
> in any position to list pros/cons of parted vs util-linux *fdisk.
> I'm just pointing out that past knowledge about *fdisk needs to
> be re-evaluated because of the introduction of libfdisk and the
> rewrite of *fdisk to all use libfdisk.)

I've added Colin in copy (Steve is there already) since both have toyed
around with parted and “modern” stuff over the past few months.

> > But I'd feel safer if that udeb drop could be happening after D-I Stretch
> > Alpha 1 has been released.
> > 
> 
> If you at any point in the future see the need for re-adding the
> cfdisk-udeb please don't hesitate to raise that request in the future.
> The removal is in no way a permanent strategical move. Just the most
> convenient and suitable one at the moment to avoid stalling progress.

Right now, I don't think removing it would hurt us; that was also
Steve's first impression. So feel free to go ahead.

Mraw,
KiBi.

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