Re: Bug#287949: acknowledged by developer (Re: Bug#287949: ndiswrapper-modules depends on ndiswrapper-utils; so should ndiswrapper-source)

[Thomas Hood <jdthood@yahoo.co.uk>]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 21:20:08 +0100, William Ballard wrote:
> Did you read my use cases for alsa-source and ndiswrapper-source?
> When you try to dpkg -i the output of alsa-source and it breaks,
> you can fix it.  When you try to dpkg -i the output of 
> ndiswrapper-source and it breaks, you can't fix it because now your
> network card is hosed.
> 
> Just answer that to my satisfaction and I'll shut up.


The basic problem is dpkg's flawed handling of aborted installations.

Given the gravity of the problem that occurred in your case and the
speed with which bugs are fixed in dpkg, it is worth spending some time
thinking about possible workarounds.

The workaround you propose is, I take it, that foo-source should Depend on
foo-base.  This ensures that foo-base is installed when foo-modules is
built.

This is _not_ an effective workaround.  Suppose I install foo-source and
generate foo-modules from it, then remove foo-source.  (This
is something we do not want to prohibit.)  I can now remove foo-base and I
am back in the situation that caused the problem for you.


> All I know is that I had a great deal of trouble with the upgrade
> and noticed that my -utils was out of sync with my -source.
> 
> Your atitude has been combattive and non-productive.


Please don't descend to personal attacks.

-- 
Thomas Hood