Re: The value of direct inspection (was: Re: --initdb)

[Tony Nelson <tonynelson georgeanelson com>]

At 8:19 AM -0800 12/2/06, Dario Alcocer wrote:
>Jeff Johnson wrote:
>
>> No --initdb has been harmless when run against an existing rpmdb, been
>> that way (that I know of) since 1998.
>>
>> Truly, how hard is the test:
>>
>>    cd /var/lib
>>    tar cf rpmdb.tar.gz ./rpm
>>    rpm --initdb
>>    rpm -qa (or --verifydb or --rebuilddb or ... )
>>
>> Way easier to test than it is to sort through whatever is claimed on
>> the internet. YMMV.
>
>It's funny how little we as programmers perform actual experiments to
>get the answers we want (hmm, maybe many of us don't know about the
>scientific method.)  Anyway, it must not be obvious to us, becuase ESR
>has it listed in his "Smart Questions" essay:
>
>http://catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#before (see item no. 5)

If "rpm --initdb" doesn't destroy my personal RPM database, but the man
page seems to say that it does, how often should I repeat the command
before I advise others that it is completely safe and won't destroy their
RPM database?  Frankly, even a grumpy answer from the horses mouth is much
more trustworthy, and way easier than reading all the relevent RPM source
code, especially when it starts jumping through function pointers.

So, thanks, Jeff, for the grumpy answer!  I hope it makes it into the man page.
-- 
____________________________________________________________________
TonyN.:'    The Great Writ     <mailto:tonynelson georgeanelson com>
      '      is no more.             <http://www.georgeanelson.com/>