I saw the results of the LSB testsuite as run against Debian woody mention on LWN today and took a look at the failures that listed for Debian. The test was run against woody, but with a few exceptions it seems that potato will get the exact same results, with the exception of mtools where potato would actually not fail the test. Not all of the test results are fair in my opinion: some are real bugs in Debian, others are bugs in the testsuite or the result of using an incomplete install. I've looked on the failures we got and a few of the other tests and assembled this set of comments. Please also note that the testsuite isn't finished yet, and neither is the LSB standard, so it is too early to draw any conclusions as to how compliant any distribution will be to the final product. So do not be fooled by things like the SuSE press release, who seem to be ignoring that little fact. * Reference 3.1-42: /bin/domainname not found Reason: test install was incomplete The test did not have the nis package installed; this package provides full support for NIS clients and servers. * Reference: 3.4-4: /etc/disktab not found Euhm, I never even heard of that file * Reference: 3.4-5: /etc/fdprm not found Reason: flaw in test The fdprm file has become obsolete in version 5.0 of fdutils and has been reaplced with /etc/driveprm; it should be removed from the standard. * Reference: 3.4-7: /etc/gettydefs not found Reason: flaw in test Obsolete file from SysV, not used by Linux, Linux uses /etc/ttydefs * Reference 3.4-15: /etc/mtools not found Reason: flaw in test The file is actually called /etc/mtools.conf * Reference 3.4-21: /etc/ttytype not found Reason: Linux gettys don't support this fully; should not be in LSB Used to set terminals settings for each tty; Debian getty does not seem to use it. Default getty uses a optional commandline option instead if you want to override the default that init sets. Other gettys like mgetty also don't support it so might not be a wise thing to specify in LSB. * Reference 3.4-30: /etc/hosts.lpd not found Reason: bug in Debian Looks like a real bug. lprng uses /etc/lprng/lpd.conf instead so this only applies to machines using lpr. * Reference 3.4.2-1: /etc/opt does not exist Reason: bug in Debian Part of FHS 2.1, should be added to the base-files package * Reference 4.2.4: /usr/bin/tcl not present Reason: tclsh used instead, possible bug in Debian? I fail to see why TCL should always be present; personally I would make it optional. Debian uses /usr/bin/tclsh instead. * Reference 4.3.4: /usr/include/g++ not present Reason: flaw in test This g++ include files are specific for versions of g++ and as a result the name of the actual directory contains a version number. g++ itself knows the correct directory name so users don't need to know that. The current version of g++ uses /usr/include/g++-3 . * Reference 4.5-8: /usr/local/src not present Reason: bug in Debian This directory should be created by base-files if it does not exist. * Reference 4.7-6: /usr/share/nls not present Reason: bug in Debian FHS 2.1 describes this as a directory for `Native language support'. I'm not aware of any program that uses this directory, so it currently does not exist. Probably should be added as an empty directory to our base-files packges. * Reference 4.7-6: /usr/share/tmac not present Reason: bug in Debian FHS 2.1 describes this as a directory for `troff macros not distributed with gross'. I'm not aware of any program that uses this directory, so it currently does not exist. Probably should be added as an empty directory to our base-files packges. * Reference 4.7.30-2: /usr/share/misc/ascii missing Reason: weird standard, possible bug in Debian I have no idea why this file belongs in a standard; it's not in any Debian package so if the standard does not remove this we will need to add it somewhere. * Reference 4.7.3-4: /usr/share/misc/termcap missing Reason: standard uses obsolete filename This file is actually /etc/termcap * Reference 4.7.3-5: /usr/share/misc/termcap.db missing Reason: no Linux software uses it I'm not aware of any Linux software actually using that file * Reference 5.1-1: /var/account missing Reason: bug in Debian Should be added as an empty dir to base-files * Reference 5.2.1-1: /var/cache/fonts not present Reason: current software uses its own paths and incompatible font caches Currently generated fonts are stored in application-specific directories (ie like TeX) and the fonts can not be shared. Changing that is a long term project. * Reference 5.9-1: /var/opt missing Reason: bug in Debian Part of FHS 2.1, should be added to the base-files package * Reference 5.11-1-2: /var/spool/lpd/lpd.lock exists This is an optional test, and a wrong one: it is very specific to an lpr implementation; other implementations may very well use a different lockfile. * Reference 5.11.2-1: /var/spool/rwho does not exists Reason: test install was incomplete The test did not have the rwhos package installed * Reference 5.14-1: /var/yp and NIS support missing Reason: test install was incomplete The test did not have the nis package installed; this package provides full support for NIS clients and servers. * Reference 6.1.2-16: /dev/vcs missing Reason: flaw in test Debian definitely has a correct /dev/vcs file; maybe the test broke since it is a symlink to /dev/vcs0 Summary: from the 17 failed test, only the following are real failures in my opinion: * Reference 3.4-30: /etc/hosts.lpd not found * Reference 3.4.2-1: /etc/opt does not exist * Reference 4.5-8: /usr/local/src not present * Reference 4.2.4: /usr/bin/tcl not present * Reference 4.7-6: /usr/share/nls not present * Reference 4.7-6: /usr/share/tmac not present * Reference 5.1-1: /var/account missing * Reference 5.9-1: /var/opt missing * Reference 5.2.1-1: /var/cache/fonts not present And all except three of those can be fixed by simply creating empty directories. Wichert. -- _________________________________________________________________ / Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool \ | wichert@cistron.nl http://www.liacs.nl/~wichert/ | | 1024D/2FA3BC2D 576E 100B 518D 2F16 36B0 2805 3CB8 9250 2FA3 BC2D |
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