Hi all,
apt-spy and pciutils (and possibly others) contain methods to update
a database integral to their operation.
- `apt-spy update` downloads the list of available Debian mirrors
to /usr/share/apt-spy (see #277816).
- `update-pciids` downloads a new /usr/share/misc/pci.ids
I think these are both in violation with the FHS, which states
(Chapter 4, emphasis mine, using caps instead of asterisks for
readability):
"/usr is shareable, READ-ONLY DATA. That means that /usr should be
shareable between various FHS-compliant hosts and MUST NOT BE
WRITTEN TO."
The apt-apy maintainer thinks this is okay because (from the bug
report):
apt-spy does not "dynamically update". It updates *if and ONLY
if* you ask it to. I do not see this as a violation of the spirit
of the FHS. I'm more than happy to have discussion about this.
If this holds, then why does `apt-get update` modify files in
/var/lib/apt/lists, and why is /var/lib/dpkg/status not really
/usr/lib/dpkg/status?
Well, two wrongs don't make a right, nor does APT/dpkg's choice for
/var make using /usr for changeable resource data wrong for
everyone, but I still think that apt-spy's mirror list and the PCI
IDs should be kept in /var, since they are variable data.
Looking forward to comments!
--
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.''`. martin f. krafft <madduck@debian.org>
: :' : proud Debian developer, admin, and user
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