--initdb

[Tony Nelson <tonynelson georgeanelson com>]

Does "rpm --initdb" ever delete database files, specifically the Packages
file?  Is it safe to do "rpm --initdb ; rpm --rebuilddb"?  I want to get
straight what "rpm --initdb" does, so I don't give bad advice.

I had read that --initdb created a fresh, new database, as implied by "man
rpm", wiping out the old database.  Others have disagreed, and it seems
that they are right.  I looked casually at the RPM source code for --initdb
(stopping when it called through a function pointer), and it looks like
--initdb only tries to open / create the database file(s), and won't
replace existing files.  I ran "rpm -vv --initdb --dbpath
/my/broken/database", and it only mentioned the Packages file.
-- 
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