Re: Need debian package management status files explained
On 20110508_110206, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 05/08/2011 06:51 AM, Ciaran Smith wrote:
> >Hi
> >I have read up on Debian Package Management as much as I can at this stage.
> [snip]
> >I figure I need to understand how dpkg works because apt builds on top
> >of it.
> >How this is not too many questions and thanks in advance for the help,
>
> Why?
>
> Curiosity? (Which is a just and valid reason...)
When I first started using Debian, back in the last century, aptitude
didn't exist, or at least it didn't yet exist in a form that was
stable enough to be mentioned in the user documentation. There was a
different GUI interface whose name slips my mind, and the actual
capabilities of the apt system were much more primative than what we
have now. But the story about how it works has changed very little.
I've tried to look into how it works. For any file it is difficult to
determine whether it is there in order to satisfy the current mode of
operation or it is cruft left from an earlier time. Even a reason for
something can be cruft left from an earlier time. i.e. That reason
was once a design goal or whatever, and has become irrelavant because
it is satisfied by some other means.
I hope Ciaran's post provokes some serious answers from serious
people. Or there might already exist a serious document that can be
referenced. Curiosity is a good reason to ask, but the answers should
exist already, even if no one asks. If they don't ...
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
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