Stuart Ballard replied off-list: On Wed, Dec 29, 1999 at 09:14:42PM +0000, Stuart Ballard wrote > John Pearson wrote: > > > > I've attached a three-line awk filter that should do what's required, > > in the event it comes up again. > > > > Run it as > > # dpkg -l | reset-selections.awk | dpkg --set-selections > > This unfortunately has a bug: dpkg -l truncates the package names. For > example, gnome-control-c instead of gnome-control-center. Any thoughts > on a workaround? > > Thanks, > Stuart. Aargh!! reality strikes again. The attached 50-line perl script should do the trick; it reads /var/lib/dpkg/status directly. Use as # reset-selections.pl > my-selections to check for errors then, when you're happy, # dpkg --set-selections < my-selections The script uses the status strings found in /usr/doc/dpkg/internals.html; if they change then this script will also need changing. It also applies some (very) basic sanity checks to the status file as it goes, which is why you should review the output first. The example usage avoids piping directly to dpkg --set-selections, to avoid *any*possibility* of file-locking deadlocks (this shouldn't be an issue, but a broken perl might make it so). John P. -- huiac@camtech.net.au john@huiac.apana.org.au "Oh - I - you know - my job is to fear everything." - Bill Gates in Denmark
Attachment:
reset-selections.pl
Description: Perl program