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Re: Bug#901001: python3-minimal should Pre-Depend on python3.N-minimal



On Thu, Jun 07, 2018 at 03:00:46PM -0700, Julian Andres Klode wrote:
> Package: python3-default
> Severity: serious

> When python3 default version changes, and a new python3-minimal is
> unpacked before its python3.N-minimal, we end up with a system without a
> working python3 symlink.  This breaks upgrades because prerm scripts of
> python3 packages use:

> if which py3clean >/dev/null 2>&1; then
>         py3clean -p PKGNAME 

> the which succeeds, as py3clean exists, but since the python3 symlink will be broken,
> py3clean will be run and fail with Not Found.

> (originally reported at https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1768379)
> (CCing debian-devel)

As discussed elsewhere, I concur that a pre-depends is the right solution
here.

However, just to explore the alternatives:  only the prerms are at issue,
because python3 packages should depend on python3; so while they also call
py3compile in the postinst, at time of postinst invocation the dependency
should always be satisfied which means that python3 -> python3-minimal ->
python3.X-minimal should all be unpacked and configured and therefore
/usr/bin/python (the interpreter of py3compile and py3clean) is a valid
symlink.

In the prerm case, there are two possible scenarios:

- the package is being removed; it is important to run py3clean so that
  stray files are not left behind in /usr/lib/python3.
- the package is being upgraded; it is in the common case (when no python
  module names have been dropped from within the package) less important to
  run py3clean because the same files will be recreated shortly afterwards
  by py3compile from the new postinst.

It is possible that the dh_python prerm snippet could be changed to skip the
redundant py3clean in the upgrade case; but in the removal case, this code
does need to be run unless python3 itself is also being removed, and there
is no way to enforce the availability of /usr/bin/python during a
dist-upgrade without this pre-depends.

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                   https://www.debian.org/
slangasek@ubuntu.com                                     vorlon@debian.org

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