Bug#170480: libapt-pkg-dev: An error API with more specific codes would be nice.
On Sat, 23 Nov 2002, Daniel Burrows wrote:
> Package: libapt-pkg-dev
> Version: 0.5.4
> Severity: wishlist
>
> Right now, apt's error API essentially tells the program
> "an error occured somewhere, here's a human-readable description". This
> is a nice feature, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to
> distinguish particular errors. For instance, if a package list file is
> missing, a frontend could automatically fetch new lists (or that
> particular list) to fix the problem.
>
> Currently the only approach is a hack: parsing the error string
> returned by apt. And of course i18n will break even that. If users could
> access an integer or an untranslated string token that identified the
> particular error condition, that would be great.
Probably the easiest way to fix this, is to extend GlobalError::Item, to also
have an error code. Then, frontends can iterate the error list, and make more
appropriate decisions.
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