i386 packages sneaking in on x86_64 platform (was: lm_sensors in FC4-updates for x86_64 twice?)

[Willem Riede]

On 11/27/2005 08:44:33 AM, Axel Thimm wrote:
> On Sun, Nov 27, 2005 at 01:24:41PM +0000, Willem Riede wrote:
> 
> > If there is no need for a i386 variant of package X then X.i386
> > should not be in the x86_64 repo.
> 
> If there is a use for some users (even for a non-negligible minority
> of users) for a i386 campatibility package then the repo maintainer
> needs to add it. But that doesn't mean that every user has to get it
> pasted into his system.
> 
> Good solutions in dependecy calculations are such that offer the
> smallest possible solution. Otherwise "install all" is also a valid
> solution for any soluble depsolver problem :)
> 
> In fact the end user should not notice what arch he is using. If some
> application is i386 only and requires some i386 packages, then the
> depsolver should get the compatibility packages, otherwise not.

That I totally agree with. But I don't see how with the current implementation  
an i386 package gets on a x86_64 system unless either the user asked for it or  
it was selected due to a dependency.

If you run "yum install libwhatever" you get both architectures if they exist,  
but yum asks you if you mean what you say. If you answer yes, then you get  
both (as the original poster observed), presumably because you need them (how  
should yum know you don't?).

But users shouldn't typically install libraries in isolation, the typical way  
they get on the system is that an application that the user installs pulls  
them in, and then only the matching variant should be installed.

Regards, Willem Riede.