dpkg --root=... not really useful?
Trying to find a way to maintain the root file system for a diskless
client, I tried to use
dpkg --root=/tftpboot/diskless
to install the packages I wanted initially installed. (The aim of this
is to have a root file system for NFS installations...). There are two
big problems which I encountered trying this:
1) dpkg refuses to work without the basic directory structure in
/tftpboot/diskless/var/lib/dpkg
I had to make a couple of directories and touch some files before
dpkg was willing to install anything.
2) It is impossible to run any of the postinst etc. scripts. I got a
cryptic error message about some missing directory - it seemed to refer
to /var/lib/dpkg/tmp.ci (but I am not sure about it). Anyway, all
the postinst scripts which I looked at are coded with absolute paths.
So an installation into a tree not rooted at / is impossible. I cannot
recall the guidelines giving any recommendation as to how to code paths
in the control scripts of a package. Does dpkg pass the information
about the root of the current installation to the scripts it runs?
To me, it seems that right now I have two possibilities to create the
diskless root I want as a staring point:
a) Clone my main machine (well, the subset I want) or
b) unpack the tar of Bruce's base floppies.
Cheers,
Lukas
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Lukas Nellen | Email: lukas@teorica0.ifisicacu.unam.mx
Depto. de Fisica Teorica, IFUNAM |
Apdo. Postal 20-364 | Tel.: +52 5 622 5014 ext. 218
01000 Mexico D.F., MEXICO | Fax: +52 5 622 5015
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