Re: How to fix a broken postrm in upcoming releases
On Thu, 14 May 1998, Gregor Hoffleit wrote:
> I wonder if somebody has a suggestion for this:
>
> The postrm scripts of bo's python packages (1.4.0-4) are broken: In order
> to remove byte-compiled files created during postinst, they call a script
> /usr/lib/python1.4/compileall.py. Works fine as long as the upgrade
> package still installs this file, but now that we're at python 1.5,
> compileall.py won't be in /usr/lib/python1.4 anymore.
>
> My current solution is to re-install the old
> /usr/lib/python1.4/compileall.py with the new 1.5 packages. An alternative
> solution would be to create a postrm for the new package that is called
> after the failure of the old postrm. The current python packages don't
> need a postrm anymore, only postinst and prerm.
You can use the new package's preinst script to edit the postrm script of
the old package (you have to edit the script in the dpkg info directory,
as that is where dpkg goes to execute those scripts.
>
>
> That brings up another question regarding the policy:
>
> Now how far goes my responsibility for providing a safe upgrade path from
> a broken package ? Do I have to care for that postrm problem in all
> future versions, so that even in two years it will be safe to upgrade from
> the broken bo version to the current version ? Or could I remove that
> hack for the package in 2.1, when the upgrade 2.0->2.1 is working ?
>
I believe that this is an unresolved policy issue.
While we would like to be able to offer universal upgrade capability,
there are times when this just isn't possible.
However, consider the following:
The problem exists in a release version of Debian, if the problem is fixed
in the next release version, then there will always be "an" upgrade path
to get to all future versions, even if those future versions don't
continue to exersize the fix.
Policy should probably create a method for keeping track of all such
exceptions, so that at each future release, the needs of each of the
previous releases can be declared.
Waiting is,
Dwarf
--
_-_-_-_-_- Author of "The Debian Linux User's Guide" _-_-_-_-_-_-
aka Dale Scheetz Phone: 1 (850) 656-9769
Flexible Software 11000 McCrackin Road
e-mail: dwarf@polaris.net Tallahassee, FL 32308
_-_-_-_-_-_- If you don't see what you want, just ask _-_-_-_-_-_-_-
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-policy-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
Reply to: