Hello!
On 07/03/2024 10:15 am, Guillem Jover wrote:
Hi!
On Mon, 2024-01-29 at 11:21:32 +0700, Arnaud Rebillout wrote:
Package: dpkg
Version: 1.22.4
Severity: normal
User: de...@kali.org
Usertags: origin-kali
Kali Linux is a rolling distro based on Debian testing. We go with a
merged-usr layout for a while now, and therefore with patch away the
warning message regarding merged-usr-via-aliased-dirs. We also don't
install dpkg-fsys-usrunmess anymore, since dpkg 1.22.4.
Please find attached a patch that adds Kali to the list of distros with
a usr-merged layout, along Debian and Ubuntu.
Thanks for the patch! Sorry, it seems this has fallen through the
cracks. At the time I received this I looked into adding support for
some new field in the origins file so that then downstreams would not
need to patch dpkg at all, but got stuck with how to name it, and
whether to make it a boolean or contain a set of values for things to
not warn or similar to not make it so specific, contrast something
like:
Vendor: Kali
...
Show-Usrmerge-Warnings: no
versus something like:
Vendor: Kali
...
Dpkg-Suppress-Warnings: usrmerge
or similar. But other ideas welcome, although now that I tried to
name the suppress field, it's starting to grow on me. In any case it
seemed preferable to try to come up with a generic solution, and
assumed that as you probably had already made this change in your
distribution source, this was not urgent. But if this is the only
delta you have I'd be fine merging something like the patch that you
provided for now until a more generic solution is implemented.
What prompted me to submit a patch is that something changed in dpkg
1.22.4, and I had to track what exactly in order to rework my patch:
https://gitlab.com/kalilinux/packages/dpkg/-/commit/41a91264
So I thought, it I can get this upstream, that will save me the trouble
in the future :)
This being said, there's no urgency to merge that, and we have some more
(minor) delta in dpkg, so we need to carry a fork anyway.
As for the "best" solution, from an outsider, a field such as
"Dpkg-Suppress-Warnings: usrmerge" looks nice and clean, and it's surely
nice for downstreams if they can configure dpkg's behavior without
having to fork it. But how many downstreams would use it? I can't say.
Is it worth the cost of developing this feature? You know better than me
how much work this feature represents.
From Kali's side, we're fine having a lightweight fork.
Best,
--
Arnaud Rebillout / OffSec / Kali Linux Developer
