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Re: dpkg v1.4.1.3 comments and suggestions.



I have no idea why you sent this to me; I'm forwarding it on to
debian-dpkg@lists.debian.org.  I'll try to respond as I can, though.

On Tue, Jun 22, 1999 at 01:29:03PM -0400, M Sweger wrote:
> 
> Hi,
>     I'm trying to compile dpkg v1.4.1.3 for linux v2.2.1 using
> libc v2.0.7pre6 and egcs v1.0.3. Here are some problems and comments
> in items [A-C].
> 
> 
> A). Ran configure script as ./configure --prefix=/usr --disable-nls
> 
>        all other options defaulted to or aren't used.
> 
> 
> Problem: The s/w pkg overwrites some routines
>         /usr/bin/md5sum
>         /usr/man/man1/md5sum.1    --- I manually deleted this one.
>      
> 
> 
>       The GNU s/w pkg texutils v1.22 builds and installs the above "md5sum"
>        files along with putting install-info in a different directory than
>        what dpkg does.  The dpkg *should not* install these since this
>        destroys the configuration management of files that one is trying to
>        do. I may get an old copy of these routines vs. my newer ones or
>        the other way around depending on which on is installed last.
> 
>       Installs a duplicate of this s/w routine
>            /usr/sbin/install-info     vs. /usr/bin/install-info
> 
>          However, it installs install-info.8 as a /usr/man/man8 man page
>          whereas GNU s/w pkg texinfo v3.12 doesn't have one. 
>          This is because the production release one only has info documents
>          and no man pages. The pre-release one known as 3.12i does have it
>          as .1 and alot of the other missing man pages. Beware that
>          ftp://alpha/gnu/org/gnu has v3.12h, but a v3.12i does exist from
>          the author.

The different install-info is an old problem; we're looking at merging
the two back together.  Note that neither of these problems occurs if
you use the debian package of the tex tools.  Dpkg is designed to
install on a debian system primarily.

> B). It would be nice if packaging.text.gz is made part of the s/w pkg
>     instead of as another file. Then during the make install it would be
>     copied to /usr/doc/dpkg. Thus, I manually installed packaging.text
>     here since it was a separate file. Perhaps it is better
>     to call packaging.text.gz, dpkg-packaging.text.gz since this is more
>     descriptive and tells me right away what it belong with. But still,
>     it should be included in the dpkg-1.4.1.3.tar.gz file.

Thoughts from the list?  I think it's in there somewhere, but I haven't
touched dpkg in a year.

> C). Version information. After installing a s/w pkg such as dpkg or any
>     other it is nice if each of the installed utlities (scripts or binaries)
>     be able to display the s/w pkg name they came from and the version.
>     It is preferable to give the s/w pkg name instead of the utility since
>     this helps in determining which s/w pkg it came from so that one can
>     get the latest and greatest.
> 
>     Some utilities understand the options -V, -v, --version. Others,
>     understand it by giving the usage options, and still others none at all.
>  
>     The dpkg does all of these and isn't consistent across all the compiled
>     binary utilities. The scripts that are in /usr/lib/dpkg don't all
>     have at least comment information that gives their version number.
>     Some even say per their usage statement that using this option it
>     gives this version but then it doesn't understand the option when used.
>     In addition, the man pages and usage statements don't document these
>     options to determine the verson number.
> 
>     Below is what I've been able to determine so far for -V, -v, --version
>     -h, --help options. In most cases, the -v option isn't recognized, the
>     others are to some extent.
> 
> /usr/bin/822-date                   no version
> /usr/bin/dpkg			    --version
> /usr/bin/dpkg-buildpackage          no version, has a -v<version> option though

Careful!  That's the version of the package you are BUILDING.

> /usr/bin/dpkg-deb 		    --version
> /usr/bin/dpkg-distaddfile           -h
> /usr/bin/dpkg-genchanges            no version
> /usr/bin/dpkg-gencontrol            -h
> /usr/bin/dpkg-name                  -v , --version
> /usr/bin/dpkg-parsechangelog        -h  but gives "unknown option err msg"
> /usr/bin/dpkg-scanpackages          none
> /usr/bin/dpkg-shlibdeps             -h works but usage doesn't mention -h
> /usr/bin/dpkg-source                -h
> /usr/bin/dpkg-split                 --version
> /usr/bin/dselect                    --version
> /usr/bin/install-info               --version
> /usr/sbin/cleanup-info              --version
> /usr/sbin/dpkg-divert               --version
> /usr/sbin/start-stop-daemon         -v,--version,--help as v0.4.1 1/19/97
>                                        this is somebody elses s/w used here.
>                                        However, it should also have dpkg
>                                        version 1.4.1.3 appended since one
>                                        doesn't know where or what installed it.
> /usr/sbin/update-alternatives        --version, --help
> /usr/sbin/update-rc.d                none
> /usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/debian-changelog-mode.el     not applicable??
> 
> 
> Note:   These subdirectories are created for temporary storage ???
> 
> /usr/com/dpkg/alternatives

See below.

> /usr/com/dpkg/methods/disk
> /usr/com/dpkg/methods/floppy
> /usr/com/dpkg/methods/mnt

Temporary storage for increasingly obsolete methods.

> /usr/etc/alternatives                    why is this needed. seems to be
>                                          duplicate of /usr/com/dpkg. It
>                                          would be nice to have all dpkg
>                                          processing in one directory area.

No, it is not a duplicate.  The other one gets populated with text
files.  This one gets populated with symlinks.

> /usr/var/dpkg/info
> /usr/var/dpkg/updates
> 
> 
> Note: These debian pkg tools and config stuff installed.
>                   Need version information by the -v, -V, --version or
>                    just put it in the header information.
> /usr/lib/dpkg/controllib.pl
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/desc.cdrom
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/desc.harddisk
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/desc.mounted
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/desc.nfs
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/install
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/names
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/setup
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/disk/update
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/floppy/desc.floppy
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/floppy/install
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/floppy/names
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/floppy/setup
> /usr/lib/dpkg/methods/floppy/update
> /usr/lib/dpkg/mksplit
> /usr/lib/dpkg/parsechangelog/debian
> 
> Note: These libraries are installed
> 
> libdpkg.a
> libdpkg.la
> libdpkg.so    ->  libdpkg.so.0.0.0
> libdpkg.so.0   -> libdpkg.so.0.0.0           shouldn't this be 1.4.1.3 and
>                                              not 0's

Don't confuse a soname (which is a binary interface number) with a
source version number.

Dan

/--------------------------------\  /--------------------------------\
|       Daniel Jacobowitz        |__|        SCS Class of 2002       |
|   Debian GNU/Linux Developer    __    Carnegie Mellon University   |
|         dan@debian.org         |  |       dmj+@andrew.cmu.edu      |
\--------------------------------/  \--------------------------------/


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