Re: dpkg -- overwrite empty directories?
On Fri, 29 Aug 2003, Ryan Underwood wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I have a package that Replaces: another package. The former package
> stored files in a particular directory (/usr/lib/foo); when the package
> is removed, it leaves that directory behind, empty. The new package has
> a symlink at that location, instead of a directory. dpkg, however, does
> not replace the directory with the symlink. Hence, I have to
> specifically check for this situation in maintainer scripts, and remove
> the empty directory if it exists.
>
> Am I way off base here, or would it be robust behavior for dpkg to
> replace empty directories with symlinks, files, whatever, if the empty
> directory is not claimed by a currently installed package? It could be
> argued that the package that left the empty directory behind is broken,
> so I'm looking for circumstances in which my proposed behavior would
> present a problem.
Nope. Check the dpkg bug list and policy. This is not a feature that will
change.
Hint: consider when an admin moves a dir to a new location, and places a
symlink at the old location.
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