Re: rpm rollback features...

[James Olin Oden <joden lee k12 nc us>]

First let me deal with the issue of terms for the sake of precision
of meaning (and to make Socrates smile (-;).  Hence forth:

	"system install" refers to the initial install of rpms on a 
		system before any rpms have been installed on the 
		system.
	"system upgrade" refers to the addition of rpms any point 
		after system install.
	"rpm install" refers to the installation of an rpm on the 
		system when that rpm is not installed currently.
	"rpm upgrade" refers to the upgrade of a single rpm that
		presently exists on the system.

Not trying to be pedantic, just trying to assure what I mean is 
properly conveyed and confusion is held to a minimum.

> 
> Yup. The current implementation will only rollback upgrades, not installs,
> to avoid the problem of accidentally cleaning your disk by typing
> 
> 	rpm -Uvh --rollback "20 years ago"
> 
> I'll be happy to show you how to eliminate the safety check if/when the
> time comes.
>
Actually, I want the saftey check but with an exception.  I want rpm 
at "system installation" to mark the set of RPM's that were installed then
to be part of the original system install.  RPM can know that it is 
system install, because no RPM's have been added to its database yet 
(or this is how I understand things?).  Ever there after, any "rpm install" 
is known to be part of a "system upgrade" as it was not part of the
"system install".  So when a rollback is requested to a time before
a particular package did not exist on that system, if the package was
not part of the "system install", and thus part of the "system upgrade" 
the package can now be removed.    If on the other hand the package
was part of the "system install" it would not be removed.

Essentially, I don't want an all or nothing approach.  I like that RPM checks
to make sure the packages don't get removed that shouldn't, I just want it
to qualify the criteria which it use.  Again, maybe I am wrong for wanting 
this in RPM itself; I make no claims to fully understanding this problem space
only that I am trying to reach certain goals within it (but without
destroying the things that did not show up on my radar screen as important).
At first glance though, allowing RPM to have some perception of "system install"
versus "system upgrade" such that it could allow for intelligent removal
of packages on a rollback does seem to be a good thing.

Cheers...james