On Monday, 19 May 2008 at 23:39, Patrice Dumas wrote:
On Mon, May 19, 2008 at 09:51:32PM +0200, Dominik 'Rathann'
Mierzejewski wrote:
> Hi.
>
> While reviewing a package, I stumbled across the use of alternatives
> and found out it's not regulated in any way in Fedora. So far, I've
> encountered three ways of handling the symlinks that are set up using
> alternatives:
> 1. some packages have Provides: for them (like cups or postfix),
Not all files are provided, only
/usr/bin/mailq
/usr/bin/newaliases
/usr/bin/rmail
/usr/sbin/sendmail
while man pages are not provided. I think it is right like this.
I'm not so sure. I'd like to be able to tell what package provides sendmail(1)
manpage.
> 2. some don't own those files at all (like lam or scim),
> 3. some %ghost them.
>
> All seem to work, but in case of 2. it's not possible to find out which
> packages own/provide those files using rpm -qf, thus I consider it an
> inferior solution.
I don't think it is that important. Having that right would mean
providing all the files in alternatives which could make a lot. In my
opinion the provided files should be those that make sense to have as
provides (or as yum install /usr/..../file).
> Personally, I'm leaning towards 1., but I don't see any disadvantages
> in 3., either. Comments?
Doesn't %ghost leads to the file being removed?
If only one package was installed, the file would be removed, but if there
are two that %ghost the same file, it stays until the last package owning it
is removed.
> Having said that, I'm going to write up a guideline to cover
that. I expect
> to have a presentable draft ready in a week or two.
I don't think a guideline is needed, except if there are specific
pitfalls. Some advices may be nice, though. I remember that I asked for
some when I first got interested in fedora.
Well, *some* hints are definitely necessary. I was a bit in the dark
when I tried to review a package that used alternatives and couldn't
find any solid information, only different solutions.
Regards,
R.
--
Fedora contributor
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/DominikMierzejewski
Livna contributor
http://rpm.livna.org MPlayer developer
http://mplayerhq.hu
"Faith manages."
-- Delenn to Lennier in Babylon 5:"Confessions and Lamentations"