Re: Proposition

[Nicolas SABOURET <Nicolas.Sabouret@limsi.fr>]

Hi !

The script is attached to this mail. It is called dpkg-revome although
this is not very appropriate :)

It only gives the idea of the missing functionnality I (actually, we,
people from "debian-french" after a short discussion) intended to
provide to "dpkg -r".

As you can see, it uses "dpkg -p" and "dpkg -r --no-act" to determine
which packages should be removed. Since I didn't want to enter these
commands code, it uses the ouput messages. However, one should do
better.

The end of the script sends a mail to root but, like M.O said, it could
be anoying. Any other idea is welcome.

I'm not a "real" debian developer although I consider myself as a rather
good programmer. I can therefor offer some help if wanted (with regards
to this idea's implementation or in a more general purpose).

Please let we know,

Nicolas.

Rick Younie wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'd like to have a look please.
> 
> Rick
> --

Marcin Owsiany wrote:
> This would be very nice, though mailing root after each package
> removal would be annoying IMHO.

> Marcin

-- 
Nicolas SABOURET
LIMSI-CNRS, BP133, 91403 Orsay, France
http://www.limsi.fr/Individu/nico

#!/bin/sh

##############
# FILE NAMES #
##############

tmpfile=/tmp/dpkg-remove.dat
depfile=/tmp/dpkg-remove.dep

#################
# HELP fonction #
#################
usage()
{
    echo "usage: dpkg-remove <package> ..."
    echo "Looks for packages not required anymore if you remove the package(s)"
    exit
}

################
# MAIN Program #
################

#
# Check wether there are arguments
#

if [ $# -eq 0 ]
then
    usage $*
fi

#
# Check for "command --help"
#

if [ $1 == "--help" ]
then
    usage $*
fi

########
# body #
########

for i in $*		# for all arguments
do
    res=`dpkg -p $i | grep Depends`
    #
    # In case "dpkg -p" didn't find the package (or no "Depends" line !)
    #
    if [ `echo $res | wc -w` == 0 ]
    then
	echo "Warning : package \"$i\" does not exist"
    else
	#
	# Otherwise, adds all the dependencies in "$tmpfile"
	#
	for j in $res
	do
	    echo $j >> $tmpfile
	done
    fi
done

if [ -e $tmpfile ]
then
    echo Checking dependencies :
else
    echo No package could be removed
    exit
fi

#
# Cleaning "$tmpfile" : remove "Depend", commas and versions numbers
#

grep -v Depends $tmpfile | grep -v "[\(\)]" | awk -F ',' '{print $1}' > $depfile

#
# "$depfile" now contains all the "depended" packages
#
# At this point, the packages given in parameter should be really removed
# Otherwise, all package in "$depfile" will be required by one of these and
# will therefore not be selected for removal !
#

#
# Begining or the mail
#

echo "After removal of $*, no more package uses :" > $tmpfile

#
# For all these, check wether they could be removed
#

for i in `cat $depfile`
do
    echo $i
    res=`dpkg --no-act -r $i 2>/dev/null | grep "Would remove or purge"`
    #
    # if it can be removed, adds it in $"tmpfile"
    #
    if [ `echo $res | wc -w` != 0 ]
    then
	echo "  $i could be removed"
	echo $i >> $tmpfile
    fi
done

#
# Mail the result (if any) to root
#

if [ `cat $tmpfile | wc -l` != 1 ]
then
    echo "If you do not use some of them, they could be removed safely. Run \"dpkg -s <package>\" for a desciption of the package(s)." >> $tmpfile
    echo "Librairies especially should be removable without regret." >> $tmpfile
    echo "However, if you installed some non-debian package on your system, be sure you do not remove something that it uses." >> $tmpfile
    cat $tmpfile | mail -s "Package that might not be required anymore" root 
else
    echo No package could be removed
fi

## The END ##

rm $tmpfile
rm $depfile



############
# COMMENTS #
############

# HOW TO USE THIS PROGRAMM
#
# This program can be used upon packages that have already been removed,
# since it doesn't check wether the command arguments are installed packages.
#
# It could be included in the "dpkg -r" process or be kept separated, for use
# with a "package remove" log build by dpkg.
#
#
# LANGUAGE PROBLEM
#
# I programmed this for a computer using "C" as language (LANG=C).
# However, it should take into account the other languages (e.g. LANG="french")
# for the error messages returned by "dpkg -r" are in the right language
# (e.g. "Devrait enlever ou pruger ...")
#
#
# INCLUDING IN DPKG
#
# If this program is included in "dpkg -r", we should :
# - add it AT THE END of "dpkg -r", after package removal,
# - not call "dpkg-r | grep ..." but use "dpkg -r" build-in functions.
#   This will :
#   - increase performance
#   - solve the language problem