I just ran across a small misfeature of RPMdrake (IRL the whole RPM
system, which I've touched on before). I selected (using RPMdrake) a
whole flock of packages to add to a base install, and between the time
I selected them and the time URPMI got to downloading them (maybe 8-9
hours, it was busy with some Texstar and PLF stuff) the update index it
had no longer matched the FTP site.
The consequence was that I had to re-do the entire selection process,
maybe a thousand packages. The same consequence would arise if (for
example) I was operating through a modem and it hung up and caused a
download failure for a key package.
What I would like is for RPMdrake to save its list of installation
candidates to a temporary ("autosave") file just as it commits to
fetching and installing stuff, and to add a "reconsider" button to
allow URPMI to have another stab at settling dependencies.
What this would do in the first instance is allow you to load up all of
your selections again if your installation is interrupted for any
reason, and in the second instance you could fetch a new update list
and get RPMdrake to have another go at resolving dependencies with the
updated package list, yet not lose your selections.
Even if the "reconsider" option didn't understand what happened when a
package was upgraded, the normal URPMI dependency logic should sort it
all out as long as you were as vague as possible (consistent with
distinguishing between, for example, tex and mdk packages with the same
base name). Even if it didn't, you would only need to deal with the few
changed packages, not *everything*.
Cheers; Leon
