X11 and WinKey [was Re: Updating to xorg-x11 packages?]

[Warren Togami]

Mike A. Harris wrote:
> 
> s/fixed/attempted to fix/.....   the problem is still present.  
> 2 people have suggested using rpm triggers to solve this problem.  
> Triggers are a risky business on their own however which can end 
> up creating problems days/weeks/months down the road that are 
> completely impossible to cleanly fix.  Not that a trigger can't 
> be done correctly the first time and not have any problems, but 
> rather that experience of my own, and that of others has shown 
> that triggers are very tricky and statistically are not bug free 
> the first time around, leading to bigger problems that only 
> manifest in future upgrades, and aren't bypassable automatically.
> 
> As such, I'd like to avoid adding triggers at all costs.
> 
> Altogether, this leaves 3 alternate scenarios that I can 
> think of:
> 
> 1) Let anaconda or something else fix it during the OS 
>    upgrade cycle, via voodoo magic.
> 
> 2) Use rpm triggers with no guarantee of it actually fixing it, 
>    and no way to 100% predict the future, along with all of the 
>    associated risks of using triggers.
> 
> Downside to #1 is that users upgrading manually using rpm -Uvh, 
> or via up2date, yum, apt will have a one time growing pain during 
> the transition from XFree86 to xorg-x11.  Solution #1 is what we 
> probably would have done in any previous OS release to play 
> things safe.
> 
> Downside to #2 is the risks involved with triggers, that have 
> shown again and again repeatedly in almost every rpm package that 
> has ever used them, that triggers are very hard to get right, and 
> to predict all the possible ways the script might get called in 
> the future.  They're notoriously hard to test in advance also, 
> but once they're out in the wild, if a bug is found, then users 
> are essentially screwed until they've upgraded at least 2 times.
> 
> Again, I'm very hesitant to use rpm triggers, but at this point
> nothing is ruled out yet.  I'm open to suggestions.
> 
> 

#1 need not be limited to anaconda.  It could also be a super special 
case that apt, yum and up2date handle because it is extremely rare but 
important.

#2 triggers MAY not be a bad thing if the implemntation is good, and 
unlikely to introduce any security related problem.  What specific 
concerns do you have about triggers in this case?

Warren