Re: Bug#161593: apt-utils: apt-ftparchive fumbles on signed debs
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Hi.
I know I'm not an active debian developer, actually I have just begun to
actively use debian. However, I'm using Linux for some years now (8 or 9),
and consider myself am educated system administrator and even a quite
educated developer.
On Monday 23 September 2002 18:29, Branden Robinson wrote:
> On Sun, Sep 22, 2002 at 10:08:26PM -0700, Randolph Chung wrote:
> > > Apt refusing to deal with ar files that have the Debian components in
> > > the proper order, but which were generated by the only ar program that
> > > Debian provides is *perverse*.
I have to agree here. Debian has always been advertising that the .deb
package format can be handled by standard tools. Limiting the acceptance to
those packages that have been created with BSD style "ar" is definitely
violating this guideline/advertisement. The fact that debian does not provide
a compatible "ar" program to handle this is only making it worse.
> We should be liberal in what we accept and conservative in what we
> generate.
Being liberal in what to accept and being conservative in what to generate is
a general rule in software development. And Debian in general and dpkg/apt in
particular shouldn't be violating that rule.
> It only did so because I shared the completely ridiculous assumption
> that you could create a Debian package ("which is just an ar file")
> using the ar(1) command.
That is certainly not a ridiculous assumption.
> However, I think a *better* solution is:
> 1) Make dpkg and apt understand SysV/GNU ar files; *and*
> 2) Patch ar from GNU binutils to be able to generate BSD-style ar files; and
> 3) Prominently document the requirements we make of .deb files in deb(5).
True. Making gnu ar able to write BSD style archives is certainly useful, even
if dpkg/apt etc. are going to accept GNU style archives. Still, dpkg/apt
should be more accepting to non-BSD style ar files. Stand by your decision to
make .deb files being "just ar files", and accept any widely used ar format.
In particular, Debian dists should include an ar program that is able to
write compatible .deb files.
Regards,
Sven Mueller
- - IT - Network&Infrastructure -
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* Heinrich Berndes Haushaltstechnik GmbH & Co KG
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