Your message dated Thu, 28 Dec 2006 21:01:42 +0100
with message-id <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
and subject line Bug#404850: dpkg -i fails to replace directory with symlink
while upgrading package
has caused the attached Bug report to be marked as done.
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Bug report if necessary, and/or fix the problem forthwith.
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--- Begin Message ---
Package: dpkg
Version: 1.13.24
Severity: important
When a newer version of a package replaces a directory with a symbolic
link, dpkg fails to do the replacement and instead leaves behind an
empty directory. I've listed this bug as "important" because an
important common case: /usr/share/doc directories being replaced by
symbolic links. (See bug 404631 for background.)
This is easy to reproduce. One way to do it is to install
libtiff-tools_3.7.2-2 (the sarge version) and the update it to
libtiff-tools_3.8.2-6 (the etch version). Another way is to follow
the steps from the attached minimal package. In version 1.0,
/usr/share/minimal/dir is a directory. In version 1.1, it is a
symbolic link.
cd dpkg-link-bug/1.0/minimal
debuild -b -us -uc
cd ../../1.1/minimal
debuild -b -us -uc
cd ../..
sudo dpkg -i 1.0/minimal_1.0_all.deb
# observe that /usr/share/minimal/dir is a directory
sudo dpkg -i 1.1/minimal_1.1_all.deb
# observe that /usr/share/minimal/dir is still a directory
sudo dpkg -P minimal
sudo dpkg -i 1.1/minimal_1.1_all.deb
# now observe that /usr/share/minimal/dir is a symbolic link.
dpkg-link-bug.tar.gz is attached.
-- System Information:
Debian Release: 4.0
APT prefers unstable
APT policy: (500, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.18-2-686
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Versions of packages dpkg depends on:
ii coreutils 5.97-5.2 The GNU core utilities
ii libc6 2.3.6.ds1-8 GNU C Library: Shared libraries
dpkg recommends no packages.
-- no debconf information
dpkg-link-bug.tar.gz
Description: Binary data
--- End Message ---
--- Begin Message ---
On Thu, Dec 28, 2006 at 12:07:42PM -0500, Jay Berkenbilt wrote:
> When a newer version of a package replaces a directory with a symbolic
> link, dpkg fails to do the replacement and instead leaves behind an
> empty directory. I've listed this bug as "important" because an
> important common case: /usr/share/doc directories being replaced by
> symbolic links. (See bug 404631 for background.)
It's not a bug, it's a feature...
And documented in Policy, Section 6.6, point 4:
"A directory will never be replaced by a symbolic link to a directory or
vice versa; instead, the existing state (symlink or not) will be left
alone and dpkg will follow the symlink if there is one."
Gruesse,
--
Frank Lichtenheld <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
www: http://www.djpig.de/
--- End Message ---
