Re: mass RC bug filing: data splitting

[Adrian Bunk <bunk@fs.tum.de>]

On Fri, Mar 12, 2004 at 12:56:59AM +0100, Rene Engelhard wrote:
> Hi,

Hi René,

> Adrian Bunk wrote:
> > When moving files from one package to another, the package that gets the 
> > files needs Replaces _and_ Conflicts with older versions of the other 
> > package.
> > 
> > Most packages contain the Replaces since otherwise upgrades break, but 
> > they lack the Conflicts leading to the following problem:
> > The package dependencies allow installing the new -data package and 
> > later an older (pre-split) version of the main package resulting in a 
> > file overwrite error by dpkg [1].
> 
> I (currently) don't agree.
> 
> See http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=236308 for a
> similar problem on which I currently do not see the sense of modifying
> Conflicts:
> 
> DO you have _strong_ arguments for that?

after a quich look, it seems #236308 covers a case of packages that 
weren't even in unstable?

That's a different matter.

> > [1] Don't ask:
> >       Why should someone do this?
> >     Estimate the number of Debian users, imagine a few unlikely 
> >     scenarios where this can happen, and then multiply an estimated 
> 
> user errors mostly (as in the above case)

- user uses apt pinning e.g. between testing and unstable
- user installs package from unstable (pulls -data)
- user uninstalls package (but doesn't uninstall -data)
- user installs package from testing
- *boom*

Is the usage of apt pinning consideres to be a user error?


> >     probability of such an scenario with the estimated number of Debian 
> >     users.
> 
> and? when they do dumb things they do dumb things.

There'a a big difference between dumb things that are expected to work 
and dumb things that are not expected to work.

Only because it happens in some dumb cases this should not be an excuse
for Debian maintainers who don't set package depencies correctly.

> Grüße/Regards,
> 
> René

cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed