Bug#363362: x11-common: postinst fails if /usr/X11R6/bin is not empty
7Le mercredi 19 avril 2006 à 16:10 -0700, Steve Langasek a écrit :
> > For sure I have a better upgrade path:
> > - keep a compatibility symbolic link in /usr/X11R6/bin/X, and ditto the
> > few other ones that can cause breakage upon upgrade ;
> > - hunt down packages using them ;
> > - release etch with those links ;
> > - entirely remove /usr/X11R6/bin after the release.
>
> Issues this doesn't address:
>
> - /usr/X11R6/bin is not in the path in Debian's /etc/profile, so any partial
> upgrades or not-yet-transitioned packages will leave some users (and their
> scripts) unable to find some of their programs
> - just as broken third-party applications may install stuff in /usr/X11R6
> instead of /usr/local, broken third-party applications may hard-code paths
> to programs they call instead of using the system path
>
> So you're trading one sort of brokenness for another.
>
> I have a strong preference for keeping such brokenness self-contained;
> failing to upgrade when the directory is non-empty is one way to achieve
> this.
A canonical answer could be: "if you don't know how to do it correctly,
don't do it at all".
But in fact, I'm pretty sure it *can* be done correctly. If we cannot
get rid of anything in /usr/X11R6, then how about a x11r6-compat package
that would provide symbolic links for *everything* that used to be put
here by 6.8.x packages? The packages not working without this
compatibility one would be detected as RC bugs by users trying fresh
installations of the etch release, and etch users would be able to
install this package for compatibility with old scripts.
I'm just throwing ideas as they come; I'm sure there are better
solutions. But please, don't go on as is. Solutions do exist.
--
.''`. Josselin Mouette /\./\
: :' : josselin.mouette@ens-lyon.org
`. `' joss@debian.org
`- Debian GNU/Linux -- The power of freedom
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