Hi,
The Linux FHS says "The application must always be able to recover from
manual deletion of these files (generally because of a disk space
shortage)." —
http://www.pathname.com/fhs/pub/fhs-2.3.html#VARCACHEAPPLICATIONCACHEDATA
Arch Linux's `pacman -Syuw' downloads package files for updates into
/var/cache.
$ ls /var/cache/pacman/pkg
fakeroot-1.21-2-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
fontconfig-2.12.1-3-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
mesa-12.0.1-6-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
mesa-12.0.1-7-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
nvidia-304xx-libgl-304.131-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
python-setuptools-1:25.1.6-1-any.pkg.tar.xz
xfce4-settings-4.12.0-5-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz
$
When it goes to install these, e.g. `pacman -Su', it checks dependencies
and then assumes that all of those files will remain for the duration of
the installation, which can be quite a while. Am I right in thinking
this fails to meet the FHS? Installation goes awry when something is
deleted partway through. (Yes, I found out the hard way. :-)
One possible fix seems to be to move the files somewhere more
persisitent for the duration of the install. Another, to hold them all
open(2) at the beginning and only proceed if that's achieved, using
those file descriptors from then on, allowing for the directory entries
to be deleted.
I'd like confirmation my interpretation of the FHS is correct so I can
continue to attempt to persuade Arch's pacman maintainers that this is a
problem.
--
Cheers, Ralph.
https://plus.google.com/+RalphCorderoy
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