Bug#316337: Proof

[Goswin von Brederlow <brederlo@informatik.uni-tuebingen.de>]

Roan Kattouw <roan.kattouw@home.nl> writes:

> Goswin von Brederlow wrote:
>> I think those are always "partial" files until they have been
>> verified. The placement might not mean it actualy is partial.
>>
>>
>
> Either way, I see no reason for those files to exist. They're empty
> and all they do is make apt-get unable to download certain package
> lists while throwing confusing and misleading error messages in the
> user's face. Somehow apt-get update should remove all empty files in
> /var/lib/apt/lists/partial on cleanup, on startup, when it notices
> they're not needed anymore, or, best of all, not create them in the
> first place. Now I am not at all familiar with the apt source, and
> probably won't be able to produce a patch anytime soon, but I do
> recommend that this bug be rated more severely because it prevents
> users from getting certain package lists updated, thereby making it
> impossible for them to download security updates.

I think 0 size files are just a case of partial files that isn't
handled special. With other partial files you want to keep them and
resume downloading. With 0 bytes there is 0 gain in resuming but
removing them would haven been extra code.

I think the bigger question is where those files come from in the
first place. Where does it start fetching them and quits after 0
bytes? Maybe that apt method should not create the files unless it
actualy has data to write to them in the first place.

MfG
        Goswin