Re: : Question regarding actions to take on --purge of a package.
>>"Greg" == Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> writes:
Greg> This is an old thread that I have a new twist on. I just got
Greg> bit by a purge that removed a file I really wouldn't have liked
Greg> it to, but I think the packages involved were doing what they
Greg> should have been doing according to current policy. I think
Greg> there's a deficiency in our conception of file ownership by
Greg> packages that this is pointing up.
I think the deficiency is in the packaging, not the manual.
Greg> libfoo1 has a config file, but it's rarely edited and possible
Greg> to set up almost automatically, so the postinst creates it
Greg> based on a couple questions. Because it's altered by the
Greg> postinst it's not considered a "configfile" by dpkg nor is it
Greg> in the package contents.
Greg> Now a new version of foo comes out, and a new package libfoo2
Greg> is released but it uses the same configuration file as
Greg> libfoo1.
*BZZZZZZZT*. Mistake. New package, new configuration file --
the postinst should have looked at any previous libfoo1 config file
for defaults, but it should have a separate config file.
Greg> However when libfoo1 is no longer needed and it's
Greg> removed since there are no "configfiles" the postrm is run with
Greg> the "purge" argument which dutifully removes any files that
Greg> were created by the installation process.
If the config files were separate, there would have been o
problems.
Greg> Now libfoo2 no longer has its config file.
Because it never created one.
Greg> How should this situation have been handled? The only
Greg> consistent way I can see is having a libfoo-config package that
Greg> contained just the single configuration that both packages
Greg> need. That seems like way overkill for a single file though.
This has way more overhead than a single configuration
file. How bg is this file, anyway? Most people who actuallyedit the
file (a rare occurrence, you say) shall notice that tehre are two
files, libfoo1-config and libfoo2-config, and shall realize that
edits may need to go in each.
Greg> The only alternative I see is allowing files to be owned by
Greg> multiple packages and keeping track of when they're no longer
Greg> needed by any package. That seems like a lot of work though.
Lot of work, and quite unnecessary.
manoj
--
Fortune's Real-Life Courtroom Quote #3: Q: When he went, had you gone
and had she, if she wanted to and were able, for the time being
excluding all the restraints on her not to go, gone also, would he
have brought you, meaning you and she, with him to the station?
MR. BROOKS: Objection. That question should be taken out and shot.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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