Re: Bug#8294: dpkg: Packages with epochs make old Debian installations not upgradable
On Tue, 25 Mar 1997, Scott K. Ellis wrote:
> > After updating the available database dpkg always fails with the following message:
> >
> > # dpkg -s dpkg
> > dpkg: parse error, in file /var/lib/dpkg/available' near line 22301 package
> > 'sharutils':
> > empty value for version
> >
> > sharutils is a package using epochs for the version number.
> >
> > I tried to:
> >
> > 1. Install a new dpkg using dpkg -> same error message
> >
> > 2. Got dpkg-nondebbin from experimental and unpacked it in the /root
> > directory. Then tried to execute /root/usr/bin/dpkg. Result:
> >
> > # /root/usr/bin/dpkg -s dpkg
> > ./dpkg: can't resolve symbol 'sysinfo'
> >
> > How will a debian 1.1 system be upgradable to the next release?
>
> dpkg --clear-avail
> dpkg -I dpkg_1.4.0.8.deb
Wouldn't it be better to change the few packages that use epochs so that
the old version of dpkg can handle it? IMHO most users would prefer it if
dpkg won't upgrade a single package (because its version number is
conseridered less than the installed one) instead of having to go through
this pain. (It's not much pain unless you know how to do it :-)
I used sgrep to get a list of packages using epochs:
Package: aout-svgalib
Package: svgalib1-bin
Package: svgalib1
Package: tf
Package: svgalib1-dev
Package: mailx
Package: bison
Package: zlib1
Package: sharutils
Package: zlib1-dev
(Perhaps someone could verify that I didn't miss a package.)
Thanks,
Chris
-- Christian Schwarz
schwarz@monet.m.isar.de, schwarz@schwarz-online.com
schwarz@debian.org, schwarz@mathematik.tu-muenchen.de
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