Re: dpkg upgrade/downgrade dependency problem
On Mon, 13 Apr 1998, Juan Cespedes wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 13, 1998 at 10:13:09PM -0600, Jason Gunthorpe wrote:
> >
> > In my above pargraph consider 'dependencies' to be the general group of
> > Depends:, Pre-Depends: and Conflicts:
Yes, I know that in some cases Conflicts: is okay, but I never tested all
the strange possibilities with Provides
> > Juan, if you have some time I have a wonderfull idea for a much better
> > interface to dpkg that would allow me to write some really nice error
> > handling code.
>
> I'm afraid I won't have much time until July (exams :)), but
> please tell us your idea.
Ditto :>
> BTW: I was also thinking in allowing something like this:
>
> # dpkg --install test-a_1.0.deb --remove test-b --unpack test-c_2.0.deb --configure test-d
This is useful [well there is the command line length limit, 200 packages
would yeild ~800 options..], but not nearly as good as my latest great
idea.
My current scheme would be to have APT open a bi-directional control pipe
to dpkg. It would issue a command (remove, unpack, configure) and dpkg
would do it and then report it's result - the two would run in lockstep.
(this also allows for some very interesting GUI's)
This way I can deal extremely effectively with errors that happen,
transparently holding back packages that depend on the failed package,
giving an error summary at the end of the whole operation (like dpkg does
- but when apt exits) making sure the proper packages get configured and
so on.
As it is, APT gives up the instant dpkg gives an error, it has no real way
of knowing exactly which package failed and why. Furthermore because dpkg
continues on after an error the result is typically a confusing set of
error messages. (Ie, kbd fails, then sysvinit fails because kbd failed,
and so on) and even worse, in long strings the error message and summary
tends to scroll past the user.
This also fixes the problem with dpkg loading it's status database again
and again, but that is minor in comparision to decent error handling.
Jason
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