Package Manager Question

[Rick Stevens]

On 03/20/2010 12:10 AM, Karl Pearson wrote:
>> On 03/16/2010 11:12 AM, Karl Pearson wrote:
>> Ideally packages should cooperate with rpm when they install, but they
>> usually don't.  One could run an auxiliary database update I suppose,
>> but most tarball installs don't have a convenient "here's the list of
>> files I'm installing" that the scanner could use to identify what file
>> belongs to what package.  Indeed, a tarball install stretches the
>> concept of "package" quite a bit.
>
> Indeed it does. I do some of those. The VirtualBox uses a .deb install, so
> dpkg does know it's installed, and does update the database. Also, when
> running Synaptic, it shows Virtualbox as having been installed, and the
> updated version, even though that version isn't in the repository
> database. That's what I wish Yum would be able to do.

Yum could scan all known databases, however it was designed to be used
with rpm and as such, just looks at the rpm database.  Synaptic is a
"second generation" tool for use with dpkg- and deb-based systems.

You could extend yum to handle dpkg, deb, and any other "packaging"
system.  It's just python, after all.

Not that I care for python...any language that depends on indention to
define loops and control structs should have its creator taken to the
woodshed.  Didn't we have enough of that with Fortran and WATFOR 25
years ago?
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- Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, C2 Hosting          ricks at nerd.com -
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