Re: Is there a tool which keeps track of space on filesystems during install?
On Mon, 28 May 2001, Matthias Berse wrote:
> But apt already does tell me how much space is used after unpacking
> packages. At least apt seems to have a rough idea how much space is
> needed *before* any scripts in postinst aquire or free some more
> space. Using this information will at least not fill your filesystems
> on purpose, although there are other possibilities to fill a
> filesystem as pointed out in previous posts.
I think this information will not help that much. A normal package
installs files to locatations, that are usually different file-systems
e.g /etc and /usr. So you could only look, if some filesystem might be too
full, when all installed there, but this might trigger to much, as little
goes to etc and there might be less free space than what is installed in
/usr.
And as every admin might choose other locations for mounting, there is no
easy adding extra fields in the .deb describing which filesystem needs
what free space. Though assuming that only top level dirs get mounted and
ading there might be some good compromis, but that need's extra support in
the creation of a package.
(The other possibility would be to do in dpkg something like tar t and
sum the file-sizes, but this would last. (You could only do it, when the
native check descibed first triggers, but people with small /etc will
still be anoid)).
> However to keep a system in a sane state there should be a tool which
> keeps track of available space and trigger warnings. Even if dpkg
> boils out if the filesystem is full the admin might be forced to
> remove other packages, because dpkg would refuse to remove a not fully
> install package.
I think an rock-stable dpkg is something to look for, even current dpkg
is quite more stable than anything else. But getting all the
exeption-situations and determine what to do will be enough life-long work
for many developers.
Hochachtungsvoll,
Bernhard R. Link
Reply to: