Re: persistence of /usr/doc/$pkg (Was: debhelper: /usr/doc problems again)
On Fri, Oct 08, 1999 at 04:08:08AM +1000, Manoj Srivastava wrote:
> Brian> I don't think it is that easy just to remove the old /usr/doc
> Brian> directory (for the same reason somebody told me you can't just
> Brian> move the files from /usr/doc to /usr/share/doc).
>
> Please elaborate. What are the problems you forsee?
Read the attachment. It wasn't me who said it though - so don't
complain at me if it is wrong ;-).
Another point: If files belonging to package B are moved from /usr/doc/a
to /usr/share/doc/a, when installing A, should A move them back again if
a is removed?
> Brian> Now, when the user deletes that 2nd package, will dpkg get confused and
> Brian> delete the symlink?
>
> No. It would indeed try and delete the files, which should be
> OK.
Say that 2nd package owns the file
/usr/doc/2nd/a
When removing it, dpkg will see that /usr/doc/2nd/a doesn't exist, and
ignore it. The it will try to remove the subdirectory /usr/doc/2nd
(actually, its a symlink - does that matter?), since it doesn't realize
that any other package is using it at the time.
> Brian> However, seems to me that there always be some messy situations. eg,
> Brian> install new versions of package A and that uses /usr/share/doc, and then
> Brian> install old version of package B that uses /usr/doc. Remove package A.
> Brian> Does A remove the symlink under /usr/doc? Assume it does. Now remove
> Brian> package B. Oops - dpkg can't find the files for package B, as they were
> Brian> installed under /usr/share/doc, but that symlink was deleted.
>
> What does dpkg do in this case? I think it silently ignores
> files already removed. We'll have cruft in /usr/share/doc. If that is
> a major issue, conflict with older -doc packages.
That might work - just be very careful as to what order packages are
removed in versus added...
Also: make sure that all maintainers realize this...
I hope that one day we will be able to get rid of /usr/doc, including
symlinks once and for all ;-).
--
Brian May <bam@snoopy.apana.org.au>
--- Begin Message ---
Brian May wrote:
> As an alternative, I would suggest moving any files from /usr/doc to
> /usr/share/doc. Of course, this would have to be done after any dpkg
> managed files under /usr/doc have already been deleted, especially if
> upgrading.
That seems quite difficult to do. Suppose you have package a that is being
upgraded and package b that happens to install docs into /usr/doc/a.
--
see shy jo
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