Re: Bug#32888: apt removes base without asking too much
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note that sometimes obsolete essential packages *are* supposed to be removed
by apt. for instance: consoletools conflicts kbd, which is essential;
slang0.99 is essential, but in potato (at least, possibly also slink) it's
replaced by slang1.0 and can safely be removed; there are probably
others. so while apt should indeed ask very loudly before removing an
essential package, and possibly refuse altogether, there should be some way
to make packages unessential. for slang0.99 this could be done by replacing
it with an identical but non-essential package in potato. kbd would have to
be made non-essential, perhaps we could have some essential dummy package
that depends on kbd | console-tools. base is a special problem: once it's
installed it can not be removed because it will hose the system, since its
files are in no package any more. but maybe it could be hacked around with
prerm and postrm scripts to copy /dev to some temporary place, let it be
removed, and then copy it back -- this depends on the system being alive
enough to be able to copy, though, of which i'm not certain. replacing
no-longer essential packages is the real solution to the problem,
imho. (it's ugly, though... oh well.)
- --p.
The reader this signature encounters not failing to understand is cursed.
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