Re: dpkg reassembly of split packages, when to purge

[Richard Kettlewell <richard@elmail.co.uk>]

Bill Mitchell writes:

>It also seems to me that it'd not be unreasonable to clean up
>uncompleted dpkg work on reboot, either by placing the files in a
>directory which is cleaned up during boot or by cleaning up manually
>from a rc.boot/dpkg script, and to document this clearly in the dpkg
>documentation.

I've already suggested reasons why I think this is a bad idea.  It
seems to me entirely likely that one would take the machine down and
then back up again inbetween retreiving good copies of the required
fragments.

My own experience of coping with download errors when installing
Debian influences this: it took several days to get hold of
uncorrupted copies of a number of packages.  (Thanks Ian.)  During
that time there was little point in leaving an essentially
non-functional system turned on.

I don't think that anything less than a week old should be deleted.

-- 
Richard Kettlewell                 <URL:http://www.elmail.co.uk/staff/richard/>
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                        Poltergeists of the world unite!