Re: upgrading from rh7.2 to 7.3 -- dependency problem

I dont think this is a good idea...this is the algorithm i just sort of
thought up that can solve oddball conflicts like file conflicts between
installed packages and upgrade package.  A better algorithm would be to
use the cached dependance databases for the available updates to check
for conflicts with installed packages before the download step....but
even so....i'm not convinced that have grab do that much detail conflict
resolution is a good idea at all.  My way of thinking is if parsing the
requirement list does not lead to a current set of dependancies to
update...then its probably best for grab to bail and let the user work
through the conflicts by hand on a case by case basis.

My example with a file from rawhide xscreensaver  conflict with rh7.3
control-center is a case where using any algorithm inside grab to solve
the file conflict would result in a lot of package updates just to solve
one file conflict....a rather harmless file conflict at that....

Right now grab does a pretty good job of parsing the requirements to
obtain a full package update list....but grab doesn't yet sense file
conflicts between requested updates and installed packages...I don't
really see a lot of value in having grab know how to handle file
conflicts.  I'd rather have grab bail and tell me to check things out by
hand.  I don't want grab to end up doing something zany to my system
becuase of a packaging error.

-jef

On Mon, 2002-08-12 at 23:31, Greg Kurtzer wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 12, 2002 at 03:29:51PM -0400, Jef Spaleta wrote:
> > so an algorithm you are looking to have is like this:
> > 
> > 1) select packages
> > 2) find deps
> > 3) if deps unresolved check for extra packages to fill deps...including
> > 	missing files
> > 4) download full list of packages
> > 5) attempt to install
> > 6) if there is a conflict with an upgrade package and an installed
> > package...check the grab provides database to find appropriate upgrades
> > for the packages invovled in the conflict....repeat to step 2 for the
> > new packages
> 
> This sounds like a cross for how GRAB used to do dep resolution, and the new
> method... The new version (1.0.4) will show you at dep check time if there are
> any unresolved deps (where pre 1.0.4 it only showed in -v mode). 
> 
> I was really glad to get away from the way GRAB used to work (finding deps) to
> do it more proactively (although it was really nice for dealing with rpmfind).
> Maybe having an option for including post download dependancy checking as well
> would be good...? It will be a good amount of coding, so lets all confirm this
> is a good idea before I start...
> 
> Greg
> -- 
> Greg Kurtzer
> [email protected]
> http://www.runlevelzero.net
> LINUX,... The choice of a GNU generation!
> :wq
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