Kristian Poul Herkild wrote:
Randy McMurchy skrev:
Randy's approach reminds me a lot of install-log which does pretty much the same, just in an easier/simpler way. Whether or not it's better is a different issue.Dan McGhee wrote these words on 04/29/05 14:55 CST:
There's a general synopsis of it in the "Package Management" section of BLFS 6.0. and there's a complete run-down in the hint "More Control and Mackage Management using Package Users."
This is what I wanted to avoid. :-) I have no interest in Package Management, and I'll never use the hint you use, that's why I was hoping you could provide a quick summary (which you did, but left out the most important part).
I was hoping you could provide information on how this Package Management system benefits you. Perhaps you answered that question in your email and I overlooked it.
My method of keeping track of packages is this:
I keep a directory where all installed package source files, build scripts and build logs are kept (actually many directories, to separate BLFS/Non-BLFS/KDE/GNOME/Perl Modules/etc packages).
Before and after building the package I run a find on the filesystem, (logged) then do a diff, a grep and a sed which leaves me with a filelist.log file that contains all (and only) the files installed on the system (I exclude the directory containing the build logs).
I end up with a file for each package that contains every file installed on the system by that package. Makes removing a package a snap, and knowledge about every file on the system.
The only thing I can't really determine by this log is a package that updates an existing file. But that's fairly rare, and easy enough to keep track of.
It works for me, doesn't take any time to speak of, doesn't require creating a user for each package, and has no issues with S{U,G}ID programs as all installs are done by the root user.
-Kristian Poul Herkild
Kristian and Randy, thanks.
While taking care of my bees (an activity during which I can really clear my head), I thought long and hard about the questions in this part of the reply to my original post.
Randy, the advantages to what I have been doing are not any different than those you enjoy using your management system. I think you described what you do briefly in a reply to another one of my posts when I first started BLFS build. To be honest, it is LFS/BLFS that evoked me to become really "linux minded." I have JUST begun to realize the power of "find" and the magic one can work with it. All I know about sed is that it's a line editor. I never used it until LFS.
I settled on the Package-User system because it appeared to be the one I could use with a minimum of effort. It IS easy to use, but it's dealing with the aftermath that's the problem. I enjoy the learning, but I really don't want to have to struggle to build a system. I want to use it, not keep building it for the rest of my life.
Randy, would you be willing to share the scripts that you use? It's quite possible that some of the wrappers in that hint are similar and I will look at them to see exactly what they do.
Kristian, where can I find more info on install-log?
Thank you both for the help and the thought-provoking input.
Regards,
Dan
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