Re: merged /usr vs. symlink farms

["Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@mit.edu>]

On Sun, Aug 22, 2021 at 02:15:31AM +0200, Simon Richter wrote:
> 
> The latter is what brought us into a situation where it is no longer safe to
> move files between packages and between aliased directories in the same
> upgrade, and because users will be expected to upgrade in a single step
> between stable releases, that means these two types of changes are mutually
> exclusive for the entire release cycle.

So with the goal of trying to enumerate possible solutions, it sounds
some combination of:

(a) disallowing moving problematic files between packages, with possibly some
    QA tools to enforce this
(b) keeping the next release cycle *short*, say only a year
(c) requiring that dpkg be upgraded first, and having dpkg and
    related tools understand the concept of usrmerge and the
    fact that /{bin,lib,sbin} and /usr/{bin,lib,sbin} are identical
    for usrmerged systems

might be possible paths forward.  Do you agree?  What are other
possible solutions?

						- Ted