Re: Return a Debian system to a pristine state
On Fri 05 Jun 2020 at 13:04:08 (+0200), Marco Möller wrote:
> On 04.06.20 21:46, The Wanderer wrote:
> > On 2020-06-04 at 10:30, David Wright wrote:
> > > On Mon 01 Jun 2020 at 12:15:02 (+0200), Marco Möller wrote:
> >
> > > > The short answer to this thread is that unfortunately Debian is
> > > > not prepared with a simple solution for this simple task, but
> > > > sophisticated workarounds are needed.
> > >
> > > As has been explained, it's not so simple, because *your* focus is
> > > solely on the last apt command that you typed, whereas the package
> > > management system is concerned with the whole system. Apt deals with
> > > the system as a current state, and not as a chance sequence of
> > > commands in reaching that state which must be reversible and
> > > replayable, back and forth.
> > >
> > > When you install some packages and change your mind, just copy and
> > > paste the line from /var/log/apt/history.log, replacing install with
> > > remove (or purge). Sophisticated?
> >
> > Doesn't that fail to address the exact Recommends-related scenario which
> > was his original complaint?
Yes, sorry, I should have added the packages in the next line too
(which involves a little more deletion of extraneous matter).
[snipped example]
> Thank You! You perfectly understood me and put it into clear words.
>
>
> > He appears to argue (if not all that clearly) that the package manager
> > should be tracking "install Recommends?" status on a per-package basis
> > (i.e., probably in /var/lib/dpkg/status), such that only packages for
> > which that flag is true will be considered as preventing a Recommended
> > package from being autoremoved, even when Recommends are configured to
> > be important. This would then let those two scenarios produce the same
> > result, which could be argued to be valuable for "least surprise"
> > consistency reasons.
Well, it might be the least surprise for someone who has just
installed a package that comes with a number of Recommends, and
then removes it straight afterwards. But it's not least surprise
for someone who's actually concerned about the current state of
the whole package list, and the "top-level" package being removed
has been installed for a longer period.
> > Given the existence of the ability to configure Suggests as important,
> > presumably an analogous flag would then need to be tracked per-package
> > for Suggests as well.
> >
> > Structurally this doesn't even seem too difficult to design, at a naive
> > outsider's glance, but how practical it would be to implement - both in
> > terms of code, and in terms of the data that would have to be tracked
> > and stored, as well as in terms of implementing both on top of the
> > existing stored data which does not track this - may be quite another
> > story.
[snipped more complex example]
> > I don't see as simple or straightforward a way to design around that
> > problem. At that point, I think you would indeed have to start tracking
> > the installation history in tree fashion, and I don't even know what the
> > data structures or the necessary stored data for handling that elegantly
> > or cleanly would need to look like.
>
> Because of this more complex scenario I suspected that not simply a
> flag might suffice and therefore suggested that a tracking list would
> be needed for registering exactly by WHICH other package a certain
> package became recommended and drawn in. This list would get longer if
> more than one package would have asked for the recommended, certain
> package, and if this certain package specific list would result empty
> again then this would flag it for allowed autoremoval. Of course the
> certain package should not be an essential package like installed
> during the intial Debian installation, but this requirement is what
> the current apt is already considering for all packages anyway.
>
> After your post nicely confirmed that my idea was perfectly
> understood, I will leave it here in the thread as it is. In the near
> future I will organize my words, probably copying some of the
> statements from this thread, and send it as a feature request to the
> apt developers. I think there is not more which we can do as simple
> users at this point.
I don't think a reply loaded with "would"s confirms that it's
perfectly understood at all.
On Sat 06 Jun 2020 at 12:36:51 (+0300), Andrei POPESCU wrote:
>
> Something that should be much easier to implement would be for the
> Debian Installer to save a list of installed packages and auto/manual
> state (maybe also versions, just for good measure) after finishing the
> installation.
>
> That would provide a good base to create a "remove everything I
> installed since" script.
Well, Marco is keen to file a severe bug; perhaps a wishlist item will
suffice instead. Ironically, the d-i already stores a copy of the
status file, but it's the one for the d-i itself, rather than the one
for the /target system.
For those who want this "cleaning" scenario, it's simple to copy
/var/lib/dpkg/status and /var/lib/apt/extended-states at first boot.
In fact, you can copy them (from /target…) when Grub has been installed.
(I happen to routinely run a script that save the packages list in
five formats, dpkg -l, packages, packages_versions, show-versions
and package origins, for cross-comparison with other installations.)
Cheers,
David.
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