Bug#832901: apt: "apt upgrade -s" tries to remove a file

[Vincent Lefevre <vincent@vinc17.net>]

On 2016-07-29 16:17:33 +0200, Julian Andres Klode wrote:
> Read the rest of the email. It's fairly obvious. This file contains
> the latest scenario. You could argue that we should use a temporary
> file name and then rename() to the final location instead of unlink()
> + open(), but that also has the *huge* disadvantage of cluttering up
> your file system if you're careless. Doing unlink() first is probably
> a sane choice here, given that it's a log file logging exactly one
> scenario, and not multiple one (that is, it stores no history).

But, IMHO, this is not what is really documented in the apt-get(8)
man page:

  -s, --simulate, --just-print, --dry-run, --recon, --no-act
      No action; perform a simulation of events that would occur based on
      ^^^^^^^^^
      the current system state but do not actually change the system.
                               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I think that log files are part of the system (they may contain
important information on what occurred in the past). "No action"
is not quite correct either since logs have been removed.

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Vincent Lefèvre <vincent@vinc17.net> - Web: <https://www.vinc17.net/>
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