Bug#186026: dpkg: functionality of localepurge integrated with dpkg + enhanced

[Tyler 'Crackerjack' MacDonald <tyler@yi.org>]

Package: dpkg
Version: 1.10.9
Severity: wishlist


 There's a problem with debsums and other programs unneccessarily exiting
with a failure exit code on debian systems where localepurge is used.

 The reason for this problem is that while localepurge deletes superfluous
files in debian distributions on a case-by-case basis in what I think is a
very elegant, but incomplete fashion; the files are moved, but the entries
in dpkg's /var/lib/dpkg/ -.list and -.md5sums files remain. So next time a
package's integrity is checked (by debsums, dpkg, or whatever), it thinks
that the package is corrupt.

 I was talking with localepurge's author, Paul Seelig <pseelig@debian.org>,
and he told me that localepurge as it stands now can't do anything about
that:

<me>
> >  I think this problem could be transformed from a major one into a minor
> > one by localepurge cleaning up after itself after cleaning up after the
> > extra locales - by removing entires from the appropriate .list and
> > .md5sums files in /var/lib/dpkg as (or after) locale files are purged.

<pseelig@debian.org>
> Nope, i definitely won't mess around with other packages files because  in
> the case of everything under /var/lib/dpkg this would mean touching on
> dpkg's domain. This would securely create unmanagable side effects and my
> immediate expulsion from the Debian project. ;-)

 Makes sense to me. So is the best solution, then, to move localepurge into
the dpkg distribution so that it's maintained by the same people who
maintain the /var/lib/dpkg/ files? Or is there some other, better way? Maybe
a command-line utility in the dpkg distribution that localepurge could call
to "safely" remove these entries from .list and .md5sums?

 This is obviously a far less important problem than many of the hundreds of
entries on dpkg's outstanding bug list, so I don't expect any of you to have
the time to deal with it soon... but it would be nice to see all of debian's
package management utilities live harmoniously one day. :-)

 Thanks!!!!

  - Tyler

-- System Information:
Debian Release: testing/unstable
Architecture: i386
Kernel: Linux crackerjack 2.4.19-crackerjack #1 SMP Mon Jan 6 18:29:45 PST 2003 i686
Locale: LANG=C, LC_CTYPE=C

Versions of packages dpkg depends on:
ii  dselect                       1.10.9     a user tool to manage Debian packa
ii  libc6                         2.3.1-15   GNU C Library: Shared libraries an

-- no debconf information