Package: apt
Version: 2.0.8
Severity: minor
Dear Maintainer,
In our setup, we share an archives cache directory [Dir::Cache::archives]
between multiple (virtual) machines. This turns out to be an effective
way to save bandwidth and disk space. However, each machine may lock the
archives directory and make apt unavailable for the other machines. We had
hoped that setting a lock timeout [DPkg::Lock::Timeout] would allow the
other machines to wait on the one holding onto the lock. Unfortunately,
that configuration parameter only applies to the 'admin directory'
containing the status file. As a result, apt operations fail immediately
when another machine holds a lock on the archives directory.
We can think of a few ways to make the experience better.
1. Respect DPkg::Lock::Timeout also for the other apt locks
(e.g. in apt-pkg/acquire.cc:pkgAcquire::GetLock).
2. Add a new lock configuration for the cache/archives
(e.g. APT::Cache::Lock::Timeout).
3. Implement per-download locking with a timeout as requested in #478961.
If either of these approaches is acceptable, we could propose an implementation
if desired.
Regards,
- Jouke
