[gentoo-dev] Re: Thoughts about broken package handling

[Duncan]

Stuart Longland posted on Sun, 26 Jun 2011 12:59:05 +1000 as excerpted:

> Currently we have three packages that handle this separately:
> - revdep-rebuild (handles packages broken by soname changes, etc)
> - python-updater (handles Python module rebuilds after upgrading Python)
> - perl-cleaner (handles Perl module rebuilds after upgrading Perl)
>
> My bugbear at the moment, is often a package is broken for more than one
> reason in my situation, and I find myself having to manhandle the
> package lists generated by the above three, building each package
> one-by-one, until I manage to rebuild them all.

I've gone thru that once on my netbook, and will likely be doing it again 
every 4-8 months, as I don't keep it as updated as my workstation (which 
I try to update weekly to daily).

At 6-8 months it's doable, but requires patience...  Much beyond that and 
doing a new stage install might well be easier.

> Issues are complicated further when [portage] fails to calculate
> dependencies [due to python breakage, etc]...

> The thing I see is that all three are fixing essentially the same
> problem: package breakage due to a change in the dependencies.  I think
> there is scope for a single package, or better yet, Portage extension,
> that handles all three cases.
>
> Concept:
>
> Tool will be written in separate modules to handle:
> - ELF soname change breakage
> - Python module updates
> - Perl module updates
> - other checks that can cause broken packages...

> [The combined list] is then passed to the package manager...

> three modes for rebuilds:
> - All-in-one-hit [current]
> - One-by-one [if portage chokes on the big list]
> - Dump the list: allows people to handle it with their own tools
>
> I might see if I can rough something up, but that's what I'm thinking
> of.  It has been an irritation for me for quite some time.
>
> Thoughts,

I'm sure most users will find this VERY useful.  I know I will, in no 
small part because while I've integrated revdep-rebuild into my regular 
update routine, the perl and python rebuilders don't get run as 
regularly.  If there was a single tool that could scan all three sets, 
plus be modular enough to expand to others as necessary...

That's even for routine updates.  For the longer term updates, the second 
and third modes would be a HUGE help, particularly as they could allow 
etc-updates or other config and other not-automatically-package-install-
triggered updates at critical points as well, something the first mode 
doesn't really handle.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman