need approval: how to use dpkg-perl in preinst scripts
Hi folks!
Unforunately, we still don't have a decision on this yet. So let me
summarize the discussion again:
Some packages need to access dpkg's database in their preinst scripts to
check for other packages, etc. (for example, tetex-*). dpkg-perl has been
written for exactly this purpose. However, in order to use it in a
package's preinst script, there are only the following solutions:
(a) make dpkg-perl `Essential'
(b) make the package `Pre-Depend' on dpkg-perl
(c) include dpkg-perl's code in the preinst script itself
(a) has the problem that just tagging dpkg-perl `Essential' will not
guarantee that dpkg-perl is installed (it's just "guaranteed" that it is
not removed after it has been installed once)
(c) is a _very bad_ idea (I don't think I have to explain why)
That's why I suggest to implement (b) now. Since making a package
Pre-Depend on another pages requires approval by the people on
debian-devel, I officially request now to allow the
tetex-* packages to `Pre-Depend' on dpkg-perl
Unless someone objects (with good arguments) in the next 5 days I'll
inform the tetex maintainer about this.
(This bug report will eventually be reassigned to the tetex-* packages if
we finally drop the idea of making dpkg-perl `Essential'.)
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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