Hi everyone, I guess this is quite a frequent question, but googling doesn't really answer anything. So apologies beforehand. I got a constellation as follows: Package A provides a central node with ReST-API Packages B-Z need to talk to it, but obviously don't need package A on the local machine. The installer for package A lets the user choose the port on the system, as it's no IANA-registered application, so the port is only known after postinst has finished. (there's a couple of other tasks to be done before connections can happen, but most can be worked around by increasing timeouts on the other packages - ugly but works, alas the port is obviously crucial). The installers for packages B-Z need that port, and can ask the user, but prefer to look if package A is already configured to read out the port from the config and avoid asking the user. This alone would call for a classic 'Depends:', but since it's entirely possible for A to be on another system, it's not an option. Until now it's a 'well, let the user install A first, or deal with the question'. I'm with you there. Now I want to bundle the whole shebang into a metapackage; installing all from A-Z. As far as I understood, the installation process will run as follows: 1. Execute all preinst of packages A-Z and the metapackage in any order 2. Unpack all packages in any order 3. Run postinst for packages A-Z in any order, since no dependencies are declared 4. Run postinst for the metapackage (as it depends on A-Z) So in the end an unknown number of packages from B-Z will ask for the port, as package A is not yet configured, until apt decides it's time for A. Is there a possibility to tell apt from the metapackage (or preferably single package) perspective to execute postinst for A first? Or is this a prime example for declaring A a pre-dependency of the metapackage? Thanks for your thoughts and help. -- Viele Grüße Jo -------------- Drexl Johannes Leibniz-Rechenzentrum der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Boltzmannstraße 1 85748 Garching Benutzersekretariat-Tel.: 089-35831-8000 Servicedesk-Tel.: 089-35831-8800
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