Re: RFH: FAQ bug #342790 (logging upgrades)
On Saturday 10 December 2005 23:41, Joost van Baal wrote:
> Hi,
Hoi Joost,
here's my two cents on phrasing that section :
To me it looks like current version (as it is in sarge)
seems to exist to tell about 'script',
and first paragraph serves as an introduction to it.
Title "How can I keep a log of the packages I added to the system ?"
does not describe this very well.
In context of 'keeping your Debian installation up to date',
a section about recording install sessions seems on topic,
as install process can present a lot of unrelated data in a short time,
at a time user doesnt have her favorite editor available.
There are several things that can be recorded :
* which packages are currently installed ?
dpkg records that.
* which packages did i want to install ?
i believe some graphical frontend (aptitude?) records this.
* which packages have i pinned ?
apt/pin-preferences is best place to look.
(is there a way to automatically unpin them ?
i find myself periodically unpinning everything and try what happens).
* which packages were added/removed/upgraded ?
you mention that dpkg --log does this, as does apt-get .
dpkg --get-selections and diff could also be used.
* where did i get these packages from ?
script on apt-get update records this.
* what answers did i give to questions posed by apt-get upgrade ?
script is best way to log this,
though it doesnt work very nicely with whiptail frontends.
it is very usefull if user doesnt precisely remember something like
'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86'.
is there a way to get all debconf settings ?
does debconf have a --log option ?
* some packages in postinst tell user to do further configuration later ;
i don't know how to record this (apart from script).
* how did i (try to) resolve (or override) conflicts in dselect ?
i don't know how to record this.
Is there a way to automatically record all this ?
maybe a shell alias of apt-get to 'script /usr/bin/apt-get' ?
There is no mention of recording interactions with dselect or aptitude,
which are in common usage (and preferable to non-graphical interfaces, imo).
Dselect can be run under script too ;
would scriptfile become big if one scrolled through all packages ?
I think main benefit of recording install-session is ability to review
pre/post-install messages, and find out how to reconfigure which package.
Script seems solution to this, in all cases that it can be used.
Where it can not be used, --log options need to be used ;
do dselect and aptitude have --log options ?
Telling about dpkg-reconfigure might be usefull,
although it can not be sufficient.
If debconf has an interactive frontend or a --log option,
mentioning that might be usefull too, mightn't it ?
Questions, questions ;
i hope they help in defining what you want to say in this paragraph.
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Some more concrete remarks :
You didn't change the section title.
-dpkg keeps a record of the packages that have been unpacked, configured,
- removed, and/or purged,
- but does not (currently) keep a log of terminal activity that
- occurred while a package was being so manipulated.
Is OK, i think ; i doubt dpkg really records which packages it removed.
+Passing the --log-option to dpkg makes dpkg log status change updates
+ and actions.
Better quote '--log', i think.
What kind of 'actions' does it log ? only it's own actions ?
To which file ?
+Another way to record your actions is to
+ run your session within the script(1) program.
s/session/install-session/ ?
users might try to run their xsession in it otherwise :)
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have fun !
Siward de Groot
(home.wanadoo.nl/siward)
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Could someone please tell kmail that dselect, dpkg, debconf are not typos ?
It even flags "kmail" as a typo !
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