Re: question about a .deb file
On Fri 10 Dec 2021 at 00:41:29 (-0500), Cindy Sue Causey wrote:
> On 12/9/21, john doe <johndoe65534@mail.com> wrote:
> > On 12/9/2021 8:55 AM, Tim Woodall wrote:
> >> Does that work or is it a typo? I've always used:
> >>
> >> apt-get autoremove --purge
> >>
> > $ apt-get --help
> > apt 2.3.13 (amd64)
> > Usage: apt-get [options] command
> > apt-get [options] install|remove pkg1 [pkg2 ...]
> > apt-get [options] source pkg1 [pkg2 ...]
> > [snip]
> >
> > Specifying options before the command looks to be more man page
> > compliant...
>
>
> I've seen one rare occasion where [positioning] overall really
> matters, but it wasn't apt-get. It was about mount'ing of ISO or img
> files or maybe even a third file type.
>
> My apologies that I can't remember what flag I was using. More than
> one flag was involved because of the more unusual mount I was
> attempting. One flag was expressed in front of declaring the mount
> point, and the other was typed in afterward.
>
> It would mount fine in one instance with one particular flag at the
> end (because that's how it had been advised somewhere online). That
> same format did NOT work for one now forgotten file type. It all had
> to be stated before the file and mount point declaration.
>
> It makes sense. There should be some kind of universal uniformity to
> best guarantee predictability of outcome across the widest range of
> user setups possible. For mounting, that would be to say do all these
> things stated here in this beginning lump to this file being mounted
> at this point as declared here at the end of this entire [statement].
> It reminds me of "subject and predicate" sentence structuring in
> grammar.
It's not rare for placement of options and subcommands to matter.
You can't have the sort of uniformity you want, because many commands
read their options and subcommands in L-R order, and effectively act
upon them as they read them. APT is very forgiving with the above,
because they obviously mean the same thing. And stick a --simulate at
the end of the line and you get a harmless dry-run.
But don't try that with dpkg: it will happily destroy your system
and then say "Oh, didn't you really mean that? Sorry" when it
encounters --simulate at the end of the commandline.
Similarly, get a --delete in the wrong place after a find command,
and you can lose half your filesystem.
Cheers,
David.
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